Essence of Humanity
by Neko-Salosa
Summary: Something is wrong with the way humans are acting. Netto, Rockman and their navi friends are out to find out what happened. Along the way Netto and Rockman will be forced to exploit and find out what Saito.bat really is. Stream Spoilers [Finished]
1. Chapter 1

Rockman yawned and stretched and looked at the internal clock in his PET. It read 7:30, as he knew it would. He looked over to the bed and saw a large lump in the center of the bed, unmoving and unusually quiet. Rockman sighed; it was of course the start of every other day just like it. He'd yell at Netto-kun for ten minutes, Netto would hopefully wake up by then and if they were really lucky Netto would get to school on time. Of course, this was the ideal morning.

Rockman smiled at his brother whose head was completely submerged in the cotton of his sheets. He took in a deep breath to get ready to yell at Netto-kun but was stopped when someone put a hand over his mouth. "Don't," a voice hissed into his ear.

Rockman brought back his elbow in pure reflex and rammed his attacker in the stomach. The grip over his face weakened and he spun around to see, "Blues!"

Blues smiled with a small grimace. "You've gotten better," he grunted.

"What was that for?" Rockman yelled.

Blues put a finger to his lips. "Quiet," he said.

Rockman looked out to where Netto was still sleeping, then back at Blues. "Why?" he asked, unconsciously lowering the volume of his voice.

"Something has happened," Blues said softly. "I have no idea what, but if you wake up Netto I can assure you, you won't like it."

"What do you mean?" Rockman hissed.

"When I woke up Enzan-sama this morning…" Blues started but was cut off by Netto stirring in his bed.

"Netto-kun?" Rockman asked, still not quite sure as to what was going on.

Blues shook his head furiously but Rockman somewhat tried to ignore him.

"Netto-kun?" he asked again.

Netto pushed vainly against the sheets that he was entwined in. /I…can't…move…/ he said.

Rockman almost facefaulted/Calm down and try to untwist yourself/ Rockman said.

Netto tried and failed miserably, in the end he fell over the side of the bed with a loud thump and managed to get free of the sheets there. He came from the bed spread gasping for air. A very surprised Blues and a trying not to laugh Rockman looked down at him from his computer. Netto coughed nervously, "Hi Blues," he said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Did Enzan want me for something?"

Blues opened his mouth, then closed it, apparently in shock.

"Blues? Speechless?" Rockman chided, "Boy, this is a weird day."

With that remark Blues seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in. "Listen to me," he said in a seriously voice that made Netto and Rockman snap to attention. "I have no idea what's going on with you two, but the only way I can explain it is every human right now isn't responding to anything."

"What the hell does that mean?" Netto said crossly. He wasn't exactly known for being a morning person.

"When I woke up this morning I called to Enzan-sama that he needed to get ready for work. He didn't answer, or respond or anything. I thought maybe he was sick or something so I called his personal physician, he didn't answer. I left my PET to go look for someone to answer to me but no one is answering me. Or any of the navi's for that matter. All of the humans are just going around, doing their everyday chores but not talking or connecting to the net or anything. No one is responding," Blues said.

Even though he said everything in a very calm voice, Rockman had never seen Blues so upset. He placed a hand on Blues' shoulder and smiled; an action that seemed to put the red Navi at ease. "Don't worry, we'll find out what's going on," said Rockman. "I'm sure whatever it is, we can fix soon, right Netto-kun?"

Netto stared vacantly into space.

"Netto-kun!" Rockman yelled.

"What?" Netto asked.

Rockman breathed a sigh of relief, Netto had just zoned out. It was only 7:30 in the morning after all. "Wake up and get dressed, we've got to do something."

Netto yawned and pulled his clothes out of his dresser. "All right," he mumbled, only absorbing half of what Blues had said. Blues and Rockman talked quietly until Netto returned to his room more awake and willing to help. "So, where do we go first?" Netto asked.

"Net Saviors HQ," Rockman said. "If there's anything or anyone messing around with something it shouldn't the equipment there should have picked up something."

Netto nodded and picked up his PET and held it to the screen. Blues and Rockman both went inside and Netto went downstairs. There he saw his mom cooking as she always did that time of day but her expression was vacant, as if she didn't see what she was doing. Netto looked at his mom but Blues said, "Everyone's like that, you should just go on."

Netto nodded and pulled on his shoes and grabbed his roller blades. He took one last peak at his mom and walked outside. Once outside Netto looked around in wonder. It was completely empty, not a soul was outside. There were no cars or people or anything to show it was supposed to be a busy Tuesday morning. The animals were busy, birds were singing, dogs were barking and the occasional squirrel ran from tree to tree. But other then that there was nothing. Netto's first reaction was to shiver.

"Creepy," said Rockman.

"That's what I meant," Blues said. "There is nothing going on."

"So people are just staying in their houses doing whatever?" Rockman asked incredulously.

"That's what it seems like," Blues said.

"What could have done something like this?" Netto wondered out loud. He ran ahead and pulled on his rollerblades while gazing around. Everywhere he went it was the same thing. It was like a post apoplectic world only everyone was still alive.

/Nice thought/ Rockman said dryly.

/Well it is/ Netto retorted. /Look at it, there's nothing outside./

Netto continued to skate to the HQ while looking around. He saw movement inside but nothing more then that. Still it was good to know that no body disappeared. Now that would have been really creepy.

The large building loomed ahead of them and like every other business building it looked deserted. "Well, let's see what's going on," Netto muttered and skated through the front doors.

"Netto-kun, you're not supposed to skate in here!" Rockman said.

Netto ignored him and continued down the hall until he reached a small monitor station. He looked at the instruments and vaguely wondered which one would help them. He sighed and plugged the two navis into the computer. "Well?" he asked.

Blues pulled up several screens and began to scan them. "Nothing," he said.

Rockman did the same but shook his head. "Sorry, I can't find anything either."

Netto looked at the computer and pulled up a few programs himself. He scanned them to see if a virus or a program was causing everyone to act like zombies. He got absolutely nothing. He sighed and shook his head. "Just what on earth is going on here?" he asked.

"I wish I could say," Blues said. "I'd also like to know why you aren't affected, Netto-san," he added.

"Cause I'm just that awesome," Netto said jokingly as he pulled up more programs to scan.

"Netto-kun," Rockman sighed but a small smile played on his lips.

Blues remained as stone faced as ever and pulled up more programs. "I don't understand," he muttered. "If it's not a virus or navi then what is it?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," I cold voice said behind them.

The three spun around to see a navi in the monitor behind them. Who knew how long he…she…it, had been there?

"Who are you?" Netto yelled.

It turned invisible eyes on Netto and it smirked. "My name is Lividity," it gave a toothy grin and bowed mockingly. It was dressed in dark gray and black armor and it was wearing a long gray cape that covered most of its body when it had its arm to its sides.

"What did you do?" Blues said calmly, he knew with this particular navi that yelling and threats would get him nowhere.

"Well, I just played a little trick on your human counterparts. You see, it's about time we navis rose up for ourselves and played our own games. The humans are one ones in control," it turned a visored eye on Netto and he shivered unconsciously. "Or at least I thought. Ah well, not all plans are perfect."

"You did this?" Rockman asked in the same tone as Blues.

It opened its arms wide and gave a horrible grin. "Isn't it beautiful?" it asked in a voice that sent shivers down all their spines. "A world for net navis! The humans knew this day was coming the second they gave an AI program free will and emotions."

"What the hell do you want?" Netto yelled.

For all intents and purposes Lividity looked amused. "Well, if I told you that then this little set back wouldn't be much fun now would it? You see, unlike most humans I'm a sporting person. I'll give you a chance to survive, but rest assured, you will loose."

/Netto-kun, you have to get out of here now/ Rockman yelled at his brother.

Netto looked around the room but the only way out was the way they came in. He saw the exit was right by the monitor that Lividity was in. "Prove your worth human," it said nastily and shut the door.

Netto ran over to it and typed in the override key into the pad. It wouldn't open and displayed and error message in instead.

"This is an airtight room," Rockman said to Blues quietly. "We've got to open that door or Netto-kun will die!"

Blues nodded and hacked into the security program. He typed in the override manually but also got an error message.

Lividity looked at the chaos from its perch in the distance. "Now, now, no one will win like that," it purred.

"Damn," Netto said, starting to become light headed. "What can I do?"

/Netto-kun, I have an idea but it's really risky/ Rockman said.

/Whatever it is I'll try it/ Netto replied breathlessly.

/Remember when Papa said you might be able to exploit the link for things other then battle purposes/

/Yeah, what of it/ Netto asked.

/Why don't you try to use the link to hack into the main program and override it/

/Can I do that/ Netto asked.

/Do you have a choice/ Rockman replied.

Netto sighed and put his PET up to the lock. "I hope this works, Rockman," he murmured and shut his eyes.

Rockman shut his eyes as well. The link was a two person tool and the only way Netto-kun was getting out of there was with his help. There were two tense moments then the light turned green and the doors opened with a woosh. Netto sat down and coughed for a minute then Blues said, "We need to get out of here before that Lividity person comes back."

Netto stood up and nodded. Blues and Rockman went into his PET and he quickly got out of the building. Lividity watched the entire thing with a very amused look on its face. "Well, this is certainly going to be very interesting."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Okay, totally AU, totally not anything in any of the games, manga or anime. This fic will exploit questions I have about what exactly the Saito.bat files did to Netto and Rockman. If you've read Maki-chan you know some of the questions I plan to ask. Hope you enjoy it and I'd really appreciate feedback on this one cause it's one of the few serious fics I have.


	2. Plans

Netto looked around as he skated back outside. "Where do I go?" he asked, still visibly shaken up by what had just happened.

"Sci-Labs," Blues and Rockman answered at the same time.

"Why there?" Netto asked while he changed direction.

"Because, Sci-Labs has a dimensional converter," Rockman said. "We can use it as a shield to keep out Lividity and any other navi that it controls."

"Are you sure it's empty?" Netto asked.

"Has to be," Blues said. "They clear out Sci-Labs every Monday night at midnight so they can run a virus scan on the whole premises."

Netto sighed, "All right, let's go see." He skated down the main street and looked up. The lights still changed color and the cross and don't walk signs were still in order but there were no cars or bikes or people to use them. "This is so creepy," he said under his breath.

"I know Netto-kun, but maybe we can come up with a plan at Sci-Labs once we know Lividity can't get to us," Rockman said.

"Why are we running from Lividity anyway?" Netto asked.

"Lividity was strong," Blues said. "I'm not sure if Rockman could feel it but that navi had something that gave off a very powerful aura."

"I felt it," Rockman said quietly.

"Okay, so Lividity is really strong," Netto said. "But what good is running gonna do?" he asked as Sci-Labs loomed in the distance.

"We're not running, we're falling back to plan out a strategy," Blues said tightly.

"Right," Netto said as he skated into the empty building. He stopped in the massive reception hall and looked around, "Well?" he asked.

"Go find the Dimensional Converter control panel," Rockman said.

Netto skated to the elevator, "That's easy; it's on the third floor."

They all waited patiently as the elevator took them up. Netto's brain immediately registered that normally there were four or five other people packed in there with him but today there was plenty elbow room. The small bell dinged and Netto skated out into the hall. He looked around and found the room Mejin had pointed out to him as the control room. He went over to it and tried to turn the door knob, it didn't budge.

"Well?" Netto asked.

Rockman noted the electronic lock next to it. "It would appear you need a Sci-Labs ID card to get inside."

"Right, any suggestions?"

"Can you do the same thing you did to get out of the room Lividity locked you in?" Blues asked.

Netto blinked, "Well… I guess," he said hesitantly.

Rockman was also uncomfortable with the idea, "Think we can do it again?" he asked.

"Only one way to find out," Netto said and placed his hand on the pad.

Rockman sighed and shut his eyes. They concentrated for a minute then the access light turned green and the door slid open. "We shouldn't do that anymore," Rockman said nervously.

"Right," Netto agreed.

"Why are you two so worried about it?" Blues asked as Netto went into the room.

"Papa kinda told us not to use the Saito.bat unless we were in danger. He said he didn't know what kinds of consequences it could have. So, we need to be careful," Rockman explained.

Blues nodded and Netto skated over to the control panel. "So uhhh, how does this thing work again?" he asked.

"Netto-san, why don't you plug me in?" Blues asked innocently.

"All right," Netto said and held up his PET to the jack in port. Blues went into the computer and typed in the coordinates of the Sci-Lab building and nodded to Netto. Netto lifted up the cover to the red button and grinned, "I've always wanted to do this," he said and pressed it.

The multi-hued dome covered the building they were in and Blues let out a sigh of relief. "Worried?" Rockman asked.

"Not very," Blues said. "But it's good to know we're protected to some extent."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lividity watched the dome cover the Sci-Lab building from its monitor. It grinned and then laughed. "Well, isn't that cute?" it asked.

A small child like navi nodded, "Yes it is Lividity-sama. How could they expect to get away from you?"

Lividity patted the child's head. "False hope, Ribbon-chan, that's all. Don't worry, after I'm done toying with them we can crush them like they deserve."

"We get to play, Lividity-sama?" she asked with a small glint of happiness in her luminescent green eyes.

"Yes, my dear. Since the first part of our plan went so smoothly then we might as well have a little fun before we finish it out," Lividity said.

Ribbon spun around happily in her dark blue, long sleeved dress like navi outfit. It hovered just above her knees and underneath were light blue leggings. On her head was a pale grey helmet with a large bow on the top, the trail ends of the bow reached to the floor and as she spun they flew out to the side. She had dark grey, knee high boots and wrist high gloves to finish off her costume. Whenever she was happy she would twirl around to make her dress fan out and her ribbon wave. "Excited are we?" Lividity noted with amusement.

"Oh yes Lividity-sama, I can't wait to play," Ribbon said happily.

"You don't have to wait much longer, my child," Lividity said smirking. "Let them relax a little, then we'll play."

"Yes, Lividity-sama," Ribbon nodded and ran into another room of the net fortress to play with something else until the time came.

Lividity noted the screen with another glance of amusement, "How intriguing," it said and laughed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Blues and Rockman managed to find the gateway into the real world after searching for about ten minutes. They stepped though it and reappeared in the main hall of the main building. Rockman placed his hands to his mouth and called out, "Netto-kun!" to get his twin's attention.

Netto heard the call and ran down to the first floor. He waved to the two navi's from down the hall, "Hey!" he called back.

Rockman turned around and greeted Netto with a hug. Netto was surprised to say the least, "Hey!" he protested.

Rockman laughed and let Netto go. "I've always wanted to do that, Netto-kun."

Netto gave him a small smile and they walked down the hall together. "Now what?" Netto asked.

"What do you mean 'now what?'" Rockman asked. "Today didn't have enough adventure for you?"

"Hm?" Netto linked his hands behind his head. "No, it's not that. I mean, what do we do now as far as Lividity is concerned. If…" Netto paused trying to think of a suitable gender for the navi but none came to mind, "it is as strong as you think, then surely it knows we're here."

Blues nodded, "Most likely, but that doesn't mean we can't be on guard. We'll just have to wait out here to see what happens. I'm going to try and contact Searchman to see if he knows anything that's going on since he lives on a military base."

"I hope Laika's okay…" Netto said softly.

Rockman smiled for Netto's sake, "I'm sure if Searchman hasn't called us at this point that he's probably fine."

"Really?" Netto asked.

'No,' Rockman thought. "Maybe…" he said hopefully.

Netto got the subtext and sighed. "This sucks," he declared.

"Glad we've cleared that up," Rockman said with a small laugh.

Netto stuck his tongue out at his navi and the two boys laughed.

Blues rolled his eyes at their childish behavior but at least they could still laugh at a time like this. He got the feeling that it would be very important in the time ahead. "I'll be right back," he said.

"All right," Netto replied and they watched Blues take a smaller hallway into an office.

"Netto-kun?" Rockman asked.

"Yeah?"

"Are you scared at all?"

Netto thought about it and sighed, "A little," he admitted. "Are you?"

Rockman nodded, "Yeah, and I'm worried about Roll and Gutsman and Tomahawkman and everyone who lives around here. I mean, I'm worried about Meiru, Dekao and Dingo too, but their navis must be so worried to see them like that," Rockman said softly.

Netto nodded, "I know what you mean, Rockman."

Rockman smiled at Netto, "I have no idea what I would do if you were gone, Netto-kun."

"You'd worry yourself sick, that's what," Netto pointed out.

"Very true," Rockman admitted.

Blues came back from the office. "Well?" Netto asked.

Blues shook his head, "I couldn't reach the base let alone his PET. Whatever this is, it would seem its world wide."

Netto's hands clenched into fists but he didn't say anything. "Netto-kun," Rockman said softly.

"It's okay," Netto said. "I mean, if it was just here then you'd think other people would come to see what's wrong, right?" Netto asked.

Rockman nodded, "Yeah."

They stood still for a minute not quite knowing what to do, but before anyone could say something about it a large red light flashed overhead. "What's that?" Netto asked.

"Something is trying to breech the Dimensional Area," Blues said.

They ran into the control room and looked at the monitor. "It's a navi," Netto said.

Blues looked at the data signature and his eyes widened behind his visor. "What?" Rockman asked.

"It's Searchman," Blues said softly.

"Are you sure?" Netto asked.

Rockman also glanced at the data signature, "It is!" he said. "Turn off the firewall," he told Blues.

Blues nodded and he undid the firewall program just long enough for Searchman to pass. Then they all ran down the hallway into the area where Blues and Rockman had appeared before. There was a small shower of pixels and when the data flurry died away Searchman was lying there looking very beat up.

"Searchman!" Rockman gasped.

"What happened?" Blues asked him.

"The base," Searchman said quietly. "The base was attacked, then…" he paused, his red eyes filled with remorse, "it came."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Oers, what happened! Guess you'll have to wait and see /cackles/ Hope you enjoyed this chapter! \o/


	3. Photos

"It?" Netto asked incredulously, "It what?"

"Netto-kun, hush," Rockman said softly. "What happened?" he asked again.

Searchman sighed, "I woke up at 6 am like I always do. I tried to wake Laika-san up but he didn't respond. I thought something had happened so I went into the main control unit computer to see if it was something detectible on radar. There were two navi's there, one dressed in black and another one in grey and blue, the one in blue was small, about three years younger then Laika-san.

"The one in black was ridiculously strong. It… looked at the main control unit and it just disintegrated. The smaller one saw me and attacked with some kind of malleable data. She made it into various shapes and weapons at her will until the one in black was done destroying the computer. Then it turned around and attacked me with some kind of attack, I have no idea what kind of data it was though. It just seemed to," Searchman's face contorted into a grimace of pain, "melt through anything it touched. I managed to link out and scatter my trail to get away but I was still damaged," he looked at his scarred armor. "Laika-san didn't even answer my e-mail for help."

Blues looked at Searchman with an almost pity like look. "Laika-san isn't responsive, none of the humans are." He looked up at Netto, "Except for Netto-san."

Searchman eyed Netto with a pain filled gaze and then collapsed. "Searchman!" Rockman cried out and knelt quickly to support his friend.

"He's gonna log out," Netto said quickly. "Re-route his log out point to the main computer."

Rockman nodded and changed the coordinates just as Searchman pixilated. "Well?" Rockman asked.

Netto sighed, "Papa has taught me a lot on how to fix navi's in case you ever got hurt Rockman. But Searchman is a military navi; I have no idea what kind of codes the military uses in navi data."

Blues looked at Netto, "You know how to fix navis?" he asked.

Netto nodded and started to walk to the room with the main computer in it.

"Because of our link if I ever get hurt badly enough that Netto-kun's life is in danger it's very important that Netto-kun is able to fix me so nothing happens," Rockman explained. "Papa taught him a lot on how to fix and program data."

Netto gave them a small smile, "Probably the only thing I like being taught. Sure beats math!" he said in a fake happy voice.

Blues and Enzan exchanged looks but didn't say anything.

The trio continued down the empty halls of sci-lab until they reached the room that Searchman's data had been deposited in. Netto went into the room and downloaded Searchman into the holographic tube he had seen Rockman in so many times before. He looked at the rather complicated controls and took in a nervous gulp of air.

Rockman smiled and patted Netto's shoulder. "It's all right; we're not asking you to pull of a miracle here. Just make sure Searchman is okay."

Netto smiled, "Right, I can do that!" he said with an air of confidence he didn't feel. He opened the first program to tell him where exactly the damage was inflicted. Almost all of Searchman's defense files were shown in red. A few executable files were shown in red but thankfully the main core of the program known as Searchman.exe was left completely unharmed. Netto let out a sigh of relief. "I can fix this," he said with a little more confidence.

"Really?" Blues asked while looking at the screen. To him there was an awful lot of red being shown.

Netto shrugged and started to type on the computer, "Heh, nothing worse then what Rockman's gotten."

Rockman crossed his arms but continued to look at the screen instead of retorting. Netto worked on the executable files first as they were the most important. The first one he regenerated was the one that forced Searchman off line. He pressed the okay icon and it blinked in red several times before the file's icon turned blue. There were a few tense moments before Searchman opened his eyes. "Searchman!" Rockman said happily.

Netto let out a huge breath of air that he didn't even know he was holding. "Nervous?" Blues asked.

Netto gave him a small smile with an emotion Blues couldn't identify, "I'm not exactly the programmer my father is. I know how to fix navi's but that was an important file I just fixed, I was a little…" Netto paused, "scared," he admitted.

Rockman gave him a broad grin that put him at ease. "Don't worry Netto-kun, the hard part is over," he said softly.

Netto nodded and started to type on the computer, slowly repairing all of the other files. It wasn't too hard; Rockman certainly had been dealt worse extensive damage then that. He stopped a few times to remake a file because he didn't know what type it was. His guess about the military using different file types was correct, but there weren't many of them.

After about a half an hour Netto managed to fix everything to some degree. It wasn't a fix up like his father could do, but Searchman could at least move and fight for himself. Searchman exited the glass holo tube without a word and appeared at the end of the hall.

Netto, Rockman and Blues went to go greet him. "Are you okay?" Rockman asked.

Searchman nodded and gave Netto a small smile, "Thanks Netto-san," he said.

Netto nodded happily and smiled. "No problem," he said easily.

/So you say/ Rockman said giving his brother a side long glance.

/So it was a little… nerve-wracking…/ Netto admitted.

/I won't tell anyone/ Rockman said.

"Well, now what should we do?" Blues asked.

Netto yawned and stretched his arms over his head. "Well, I, unlike you guys need sleep and after today I think I'm ready to attempt a nap."

"How can you think about sleep?" Blues asked.

Netto raised an eyebrow, "Easily," Netto shrugged. "I'm tired; I have a horrible head ache and after staring at a computer screen for 45 minutes my eyes hurt. I'm still human you know," he said with a small smile.

Rockman laughed and put an arm around Netto's shoulders. "We know," he said. "Don't worry about it Netto-kun, it's not like we can do much anyways."

Blues and Searchman looked at one another and both realized Rockman was right. As far as doing anything besides keeping to themselves at the moment it wasn't just possible. What where they gonna do, go find Lividity and attack?

Netto grabbed Rockman's wrist in a sudden move that made him jump. "Rockman, I just remembered, there's something I wanna show you in Papa's lab!" he said excitedly and pulled Rockman towards the elevator.

"Okay," Rockman said and followed Netto leaving Blues and Searchman alone in the hall. Not that they cared.

They went up three floors and walked right into Yuuichiro Hikari's main lab. It was big and spacious but showed obvious signs of being lived and worked in for years. Netto walked over to a cabinet and pulled out an old photo album. "I just remembered about this thing a few minutes ago," Netto said softly. "Papa showed it too me when I found out about you being Saito and all." Netto thumbed through the pages and stopped about halfway through, "Look," he said pointing at one picture.

Rockman knelt over Netto's shoulder and looked at the picture. It showed a sleepy, year old Netto with his head in Saito's lap. Saito had his hand on Netto's head and was giving a big grin to the camera. The label underneath read "Netto and Saito 1 year."

"Oh my god," Rockman whispered touching the picture with trembling fingers.

Netto smiled, "Papa said this album is full of our first year but this one is my favorite," he said while gazing at the picture.

Rockman giggled, "I can see why. It really captures your personality."

Netto stuck his tongue out at him and Rockman pulled the book from Netto. He set it in his lap and started to thumb through the pages. "Heh, we were so cute," Rockman said while looking at the pictures.

Netto leaned over Rockman's shoulder and they both started pointing at different pictures, laughing and teasing one another.

Blues and Searchman stopped by once but didn't intrude when they saw the two boys hovering over the picture album. Netto and Rockman didn't even notice the navi's appearance or disappearance.

Blues and Searchman walked down the long metallic halls of Sci-Labs together. "What do you think happened?" Searchman asked.

"To the humans? I have no idea. Lividity did it, but as for what it did…" Blues looked at the ceiling. "I have no idea."

"Why isn't Netto-san affected. He's human after all," Searchman mused.

Blues looked to the open door of Yuuichiro's lab. "There could be many reasons for that. My guess is their link."

"You mean the Saito.bat thing we found out about last month?" Searchman asked.

Blues nodded, "Netto-san has…" he paused, "times when he can do things other humans can't. Today, he and Rockman hacked into a computer terminal and opened a fused lock without a PET or any other electrical device to help him. That isn't something a normal human can do."

Searchman turned his red eyes upward, "This just got a whole lot more complicated," he said softly.

Blues nodded. "At least we seem to have some time to sit down and think about it."

After an hour of talking they returned to Yuuichiro's lab. They found Netto asleep on the sofa with his head in Rockman's lap. Rockman had his hand on Netto's head and was also asleep. Blues walked over, his curiosity getting the best of him. He found the picture album at Rockman's feet and looked into it. On the left page was a picture that gave an eerie semblance to the scene before him.

He sighed and shut the book, placing it on Yuuichiro's desk. He nodded at Searchman and they left the room making sure to shut off the lights. It was just the first day of many.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Next chappie :3


	4. Ribbon

"Hey, Lividity-sama?" Ribbon asked quietly.

"Yes, Ribbon-chan?" Lividity purred.

"Can we go play now?"

Lividity looked at the screens showing it Sci-Labs, "Yes, we can go play."

"Yay!" Ribbon jumped up and down in excitement.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Netto-kun…" Netto groaned as he heard Rockman's voice reach his ears.

"Hm?" he asked sleepily.

"Get up," Rockman said gently.

Netto half turned and buried himself deeper into Rockman's arms. "I don't wanna…" he said tiredly.

"Netto-kun," Rockman sighed. "Come on, we need to figure out what happened here."

Netto yawned and sat up. "But I'm tired," he whined.

"Too bad," Rockman teased. "Up."

Netto yawned again and stood up. He stretched his hands over his head and linked them behind his neck. "What do we do today?" he asked.

"Let's start with learning why the humans are acting the way they are," Blues said from the doorway.

Netto turned a little to look at the red navi. He smiled and nodded, "Sounds good!" He walked out of the room and started to walk towards the main control room.

"How can he always be so happy?" Blues wondered out loud.

Rockman shrugged, "Why don't you ask Netto-kun that?" he said to Blues and followed Netto's path down the hall.

Blues stood there for a few seconds, then he followed Rockman without a word.

When Netto got into the main control room, Searchman was already there typing away on the equipment. "Good morning!" Netto said cheerfully.

Searchman nodded and continued to type.

Netto gave a small smile and walked over to another computer. Rockman came into the room and leaned on the chair that Netto was sitting in. "Any idea of what we're looking for?" Netto asked him.

"Hmmm…" Rockman said thoughtfully, "Maybe some kind of signal or… radio wave… something that can brainwash billions of humans without leaving a trace…"

Netto looked at Rockman with an eyebrow raised, "That helps," he said.

Rockman smiled, "Sorry Netto-kun, your guess is as good as mine."

Netto sighed and opened a program on the computer screen. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about someone coming in and telling us we can't use the equipment."

"Yeah, well, we seem to have quite a bit of time on our hands," Rockman said.

Netto made a face, "I'd almost rather be in school."

"Really?" Rockman gasped in fake surprise.

"I said 'almost' Rockman," Netto pointed out.

Rockman laughed, "I know, I know."

Blues and Searchman listened to the easy chatter as they all worked. It's not that they didn't want to join in on the conversation but there was no reason to. Netto and Rockman needed each other's companionship to get through everyday life it seemed and so talking was probably one of the few ways that they could deal with what happened. Blues and Searchman were somewhat the opposite and preferred to work and generally just be alone.

After a few hours and nothing to show for it Netto got up and stretched. "Okay, I can't sit here for much longer," he said.

Rockman nodded, "We'll try again soon."

"Do you two want to take a break?" Netto asked Blues and Searchman.

They both shook their heads and Netto just shrugged, "Fine with me," he said.

Netto and Rockman walked out of the room and disappeared down the hall.

"Working so hard is bad for your health," a voice purred behind them.

Blues and Searchman spun around, "You!" they both yelled.

Lividity smirked, "Me, oh dear, what will you do?"

Blues summoned his default sword, and launched at Lividity without a word. Lividity smirked and flew at Blues in retaliation. "This should be fun," it whispered just before they made contact.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto and Rockman continued to walk down the hallway. "Think Blues and Searchman will ever talk?" Netto asked.

"Netto-kun, I think they're upset, maybe they don't want to talk," Rockman said.

"If they're upset then why are they just keeping it in? That doesn't make any sense," Netto said while giving his navi a sidelong glance.

"Netto-kun, I don't know how they think but maybe for now, it's just best to leave them alone."

Netto nodded, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

They continued to walk along the empty hall perfectly content with the fact that they were near one another. Even Netto didn't feel the need to talk, just a long walk and having time to think was what he needed. Unfortunately that wasn't going to happen.

"Hello!" a cheerful voice said behind them.

Netto and Rockman both spun around to see a small girl with a huge ribbon on her helmet waving at them. "Who are you?" Rockman yelled.

"My name is Ribbon! Pleased to meet you," she said and spun around, finishing off her introduction with a curtsy. "Want to play with me?"

Rockman stared at her, "Why?"

"Because I'm bored, I want to play," she said in a whiny voice. "Please?"

/Netto-kun, something is off about her/ Rockman said to Netto.

/I know that/ Netto replied/But what does she really want./

"Well?" she asked.

Rockman took a defensive stance in front of Netto. "What do you want?" he asked again.

Ribbon smiled and the entails of her ribbon started to flow outwards. "I want to play," she said and her eyes glowed. Her ribbon started to deplete forming little pieces of junk data that floated in mid air. She stopped her ribbon from completely disappearing right when the ends of it reached the bow. Then she held up her hands and the pieces formed a thin sword that was almost as long as she was tall.

"Netto-kun!" Rockman yelled and shoved him out of the way.

Netto landed on the floor and Rockman dived in the other direction just as Ribbon came. She buried her sword hilt deep into wall behind them and smiled. "Oh this is fun."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Blues and Lividity started to parry off one another's blows. Blues was desperately trying to protect the only equipment that could help them find answers and Lividity was trying to destroy it. Blues pushed hard on the sword and sent Lividity flying across the room and out into the hall.

"You're good," Lividity said quietly.

"What did you do to the humans?" Blues asked.

"Nothing, they're perfectly content living this way. A life set out for them, never changing, like following a program," Lividity smiled.

Blues launched another attack that Lividity caught. But this time Searchman was behind them, he took a shot at Lividity's back and it hit it right on target. Lividity smirked, "Was that supposed to hurt?" it asked and threw Blues into the far wall. "You are good, I'll give you that. But you're about twenty years to early to challenge me."

Blues stood up and summoned his sword. "Please, don't even try. I'm not going to continue this fight," Lividity said.

Blues stayed in the offensive position he was in, "What do you want?"

"Well, I'm here for Ribbon really. The poor child was bored and wanted to play," Lividity smirked.

"Ribbon?" Blues and Searchman both asked.

Lividity nodded, "Yes, and it also presents me with an opportunity to test your friends. I'll let you know that Ribbon is just as strong as if not stronger then me. I'm curious to see if your friends can survive."

Blues and Searchman looked at one another and without a word they disappeared.

Lividity smiled and vanished back into the net. "This is interesting," it murmured.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Ribbon jumped and twirled in the air using her malleable data to keep Netto and Rockman separated. It was apparent to both that she was merely toying with them but much to the frustration of both, neither one could do anything about it.

"You two are funny!" she giggled.

"Rock-buster!" Rockman yelled and fired off a volley of magenta hued shots at the navi. When the smoke cleared both were shocked to see that the data she could change shape at her will had formed a protective shield around her.

"Cute!" she giggled. "Lividity-sama was right, this is fun!"

"You're with Lividity?" Rockman yelled.

"Yeup! Lividity-sama let's me play," she smiled cheekily.

Searchman and Blues both turned the corner to see Ribbon standing on the rubble of what once was a wall and Netto and Rockman on either side of her. "You!" Searchman yelled.

"Awww, you again," Ribbon pouted, "You were no fun."

"She was the one you met at your base?" Blues asked.

Searchman nodded, "Yeah, be careful, she's really strong."

"No, really!" Netto yelled.

Ribbon smirked and sent a blade fashioned from her data at him. He managed to dodge but barely. "You're quite interesting for a human," Ribbon smiled. "I like you!" she giggled.

Netto blinked at the odd navi but Rockman took the temporary cease fire to jump in front of Netto. "Get away," he hissed.

Ribbon stretched as if she had just finished playing a particularly long game of tag. "Well, that was really fun!" she cheered. The data swirling around her reformed the ends of her ribbons until they hovered just above the floor. "I'll come back and play some time, bye!" she waved and disappeared.

Rockman lowered his buster and blinked in confusion. "What?"

"That was messed up," Netto said incredulously.

Rockman nodded, "Yeah, I wonder what made her stop."

"That doesn't matter," Blues said, "Right now we need to find out what happened."

Everyone nodded and made their way back to the main room.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ribbon Every 5 to 10 year old I've ever had to babysit. I kid you not . Anywho, like the new chappie?


	5. Consequenses

Lividity and Ribbon returned to their small fortress in Internet City. Lividity sat down in its throne and looked at the floor thoughtfully.

"What are you thinking about, Lividity-sama?" Ribbon asked in a cheerful voice.

"Why is that human un-affected by our plans? What makes him so special?" Lividity mused. It wasn't angry or upset, rather, it was puzzled and the last two meetings failed to tell it any more about the human other then he could possibly pose a threat at some point.

"Can't we just ask?" Ribbon wondered.

Lividity looked at Ribbon; it was amazing how the simplest ideas might just be the best ones. "Maybe, in a little bit dear."

"So we can go play again?" Ribbon asked.

Lividity smiled, "Soon."

"Yay!" Ribbon cheered and twirled around excitedly.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Find anything?" Netto asked dully.

"No," Rockman answered in the same voice.

Blues and Searchman's lack of an answer told Netto and Rockman what they needed to know. Both Rockman and Netto sighed at the same time and Netto tapped on the keyboard. "This is not helping. Obviously none of the equipment here can help us," Netto said.

"Yeah, but what else can we do?" Rockman asked. "Wait for Lividity and Ribbon to come and 'play' again?"

"Not a good idea," Netto said.

"Then what? What do we do?" Rockman asked.

Netto sighed, stood up and stretched. "Well, I need to sleep," he said. "It's about 2 in the morning."

Rockman looked at the clock and nodded. He didn't even realize what time it was. "All right, night Netto-kun."

Netto yawned and said "Night," before leaving the room.

After a few more hours of looking for any sign as to what was brainwashing the humans Rockman pushed himself away from the computer and went limp in his chair.

"Rockman?" Blues asked.

"Netto-kun is right," Rockman muttered while pressing the heels of his palms on his eyes. "This is pointless."

Blues and Searchman turned away from their computers. "Then what do we do?" Searchman asked.

Rockman let his arms drop over the chair arms as he stared at the ceiling. "I have no idea," he whispered.

There was a crackle of electricity and a small warning light came on telling them that the firewall had just been breached. "They're back already?" Searchman hissed.

Rockman sat up as quickly as he could and ran to the door. Blues and Searchman followed him to the end of the hall where Lividity and Ribbon were waiting for them.

"Ah, where's the human?" Lividity asked.

The three navi's remained silent and scanned their opponents to see if anything had changed.

Lividity smirked, "So, you want to play again?" it purred.

Rockman, Blues and Searchman all fell into defensive positions.

"Yay!" Ribbon cheered and sliced off two even portions of her ribbons with her hands. Then she brought her hands together and spread them apart until a thin and very deadly looking sword was in between them.

The resounding explosion over head shook Netto out of his nap and onto the floor. "What?" he babbled, trying to get a grip as to what was going on.

There was another explosion and another shake that brought Netto to his knees. "Rockman," he muttered and ran out the door.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Blues and Ribbon were both parrying and bouncing off one another in a frantic sword fight. Meanwhile Searchman and Rockman were trying their best to keep Lividity at bay. It grinned and seemingly vanished from one area only to reappear in the next with little effort.

"It's so fast…" Rockman said while trying to guess where Lividity would end up next and started to shoot there.

Searchman couldn't even use his scope gun because of the speed. He too was shooting randomly at a target that may or may not have been there.

"You're pretty good," Ribbon said to Blues in a small voice. Then she viciously pushed him back and slashed at his stomach, connecting and opening a large gash. Blues fell to the floor, a steady stream of pixels flowing out of the wound around his hand. Dream giggled and brought her sword to her lips, "But not anywhere near me."

"Blues!" Rockman yelled. He wanted to retreat to help his friend but Lividity kept coming at them with small attacks that never connected but were close enough to keep them where they were.

"Damnit!" Searchman yelled. "Lividity is toying with us!"

Lividity appeared in front of them and smirked, "Ah, so you finally figured that out. My you are slow."

Rockman growled at Lividity and raised his buster; firing off a volley of shots and making the dark navi disappear once again.

Rockman took the split second opening and appeared in front of Blues, firing off more shots until both Lividity and Ribbon were at one end and he, Blues and Searchman were at the other.

"What do you want?" Rockman asked evenly.

Lividity crossed its arms and smirked, "Well, I want quite a few things actually. What do you want?"

Rockman blinked, faltered then raised his weapon once again. "I'm not going to play your mind games Liv…" he started but he was cut off by the creepy navi.

"You want to know why the humans are acting the way they are, don't you?" it asked. Ribbon giggled behind Lividity while Rockman, Blues and Searchman all looked somewhat dumbfounded.

"I know a lot more then you might think, and I'll let you know I'm several steps ahead of you at all times," Lividity said silkily.

Rockman growled and launched himself at Lividity in one last ditch effort to get the navi away from his friends so they could heal Blues. Lividity grinned and jumped at Rockman. Rockman's buster glowed a brilliant fuchsia but before he could fire Lividity slammed its hand over Rockman's buster throwing him off balance and making him fire into the wall. Then in mid air Lividity grabbed Rockman and threw him into the opposite wall by a hallway.

Lividity landed with the grace of a cat and Rockman pushed himself up painfully using the wall for support. "You're not much without your operator, are you?" it said.

Ribbon smirked at Rockman's pain and when Blues and Searchman tried to get up to help Rockman she pointed two swords at them. "Now you can watch your friend be deleted by Lividity-sama."

Lividity let its palm face up and a small dark ball of energy appeared in the center. "This is my finishing attack," Lividity said with a glint of insanity playing in its eyes. "It destroys constructed data but leaves anything else, meaning I could use this on a building in Internet City and kill all the navis inside but leave the building intact. You should be honored that this is how I chose to delete you," it said, its voice rising to a higher pitch.

Rockman slumped against the wall and tried to keep his balance. Lividity grinned and let the ball of energy grow bigger, "Pity, that I could never find out why you were so special. But threats should and will be removed at all costs…" it whispered.

"Rockman!" Blues and Searchman yelled.

Ribbon watched the ball of energy grow with delight playing in her eyes. "It's so pretty," she breathed.

Netto ran down the hall, hearing voice murmuring and talking. If he could just get there in time! He felt Rockman's fear; it was so great that he couldn't even contact him through thought. Something very bad must be about to happen to make him scared like that.

"And with that, I wish you a fond farewell," Lividity said and aimed the small energy ball at Rockman's chest.

Netto came out at the adjacent hallway just in time to see the ball being released. He had no time to think or even know what was going on. All he did was act on instinct to save his one and only older brother. "Rockman!" he screamed and elbowed Rockman viciously out of the way of the incoming attack.

"Netto-kun!" Rockman yelled as the attack hit his little brother. He saw Netto's eyes widen then he felt his programming log him out. "NETTO-KUN!" he yelled.

He, Searchman, Blues, Ribbon and Lividity were all in the main computer of Sci-Labs. "Ah, I must have caused an energy overload in the dimensional converters," Lividity said with a small voice of concern. It turned its gaze to Rockman and smirked, "You got lucky," it said and threw a small silver disk at them. "I look forward to the next time we meet." Lividity smirked, then vanished.

"Bye bye!" Ribbon said with a cheerful wave and followed Lividity.

Rockman linked himself to the nearest monitor and looked around desperately. "Netto-kun?" he asked.

"Rockman…" Searchman said softly as he didn't know quite what to say.

"He's… gone…" Rockman said, feeling his legs give out beneath him. "I don't feel him," he whispered.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

. I swear to god I know what I'm doing here.


	6. Consequenses pt 2

"Rockman?" Blues asked the trembling navi softly.

"He… no…"

Blues and Searchman exchanged worried looks. "Rockman, what's wrong?" Searchman asked.

Rockman looked back down at his trembling hands, "Why am I not deleted?" he asked himself softly.

Blues and Searchman both took in sharp breaths.

"If Netto-kun was dead then I…" Rockman let the rest of the sentence hang in the air.

"Let's… just get everything working again," Searchman suggested.

Blues nodded but Rockman continued to stare at the floor with a vacant expression in his green eyes.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

After they managed to set up the Dimensional Area to work again Blues pulled out the little diskette that Lividity had tossed to him and let the computer scan the data. His eyes widened as he read it and Searchman came over to see what was going on. "It's how the humans are being brainwashed…" Blues said softly.

Searchman looked at it, "Of course, all humans have the same brain frequency, so if someone tapped into that frequency and kept a constant program going it's possible. So that's why Netto-san wasn't affected, the link must have put him on a different frequency."

"So we know the why but not the how…" Blues said softly. Suddenly he curled up his fist and punched the wall, "Damnit, they're toying with us. This is all a game to them," he hissed.

"Don't worry, we'll do something," Searchman growled. "This can't continue forever."

Blues nodded, "Right," he said.

Rockman continued to look upset in his own little corner until he looked up suddenly. "What's wrong?" Searchman asked.

"Roll-chan…" he said softly. "She just sent me an e-mail but my PET…" he said softly.

"How can you tell?" Blues asked.

"I know who sends me e-mail according to their address in my PET if it's logged but I thought my PET was destroyed," he said softly.

There was a small alarm that warned them of a possible incoming threat on the screen. Rockman looked at it sadly and sighed, "I bet that's her," he said softly.

Blues merely pressed a button and they all logged out as the Dimensional Area went down. They re-emerged in the internet to see Roll appear right by them flushed and out of breath. "Rockman!" she said happily, "Oh thank god you're okay. You nearly gave me a heart attack when I couldn't contact you at your house. It took me this long to track where you were!" she said breathlessly.

Rockman felt Roll hug him but he didn't return the favor. Roll peered up at him with a frown on her face, "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

"Netto-kun…" Rockman muttered.

Roll's eyes saddened, "I know, it must have been a big shock to see him like that, I know you two were so close."

"How did you know?" Blues asked.

"Know what?" Roll replied. "All humans are like that."

Rockman snapped out of his wallowing pity state and stared at Roll, "He's alive!" he asked suddenly.

Roll put her hands on her hips, "Of course he's alive. Am I missing something here?" she asked suddenly.

"Blues, reactivate the Dimensional Area," Rockman said quickly.

Blues did such and Rockman quickly reappeared in the real world and ran towards the nearest computer. "Am I missing something here?" Roll asked Blues and Searchman.

They exchanged a silent chat and nodded at one another, "You don't know what's happened here over the past few days," Blues said slowly.

"What?" Roll asked, sensing something important.

Searchman looked at the hall Rockman had just ran down moments before, "Do you know about Netto and Rockman's link?" he started.

Roll shook her head slowly. "What?" she asked.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rockman looked through the program he had hacked into to look at his house. Sure enough Netto was there, safe and sound and just like every other human. Rockman's heart was torn between being relieved he was safe and wondering what had happened to make him like that. What happened to the link?

Roll came into the room quietly and Rockman turned around to greet her. "Rockman?" she asked tentatively.

Rockman turned off the monitor and greeted Roll with a watery grin. "Sorry about earlier," he said softly.

Roll rushed forward and hugged Rockman tightly, "What are you talking about?" she asked in a harsh whisper. "It's all right."

Rockman hugged her back tightly and Blues and Searchman suddenly felt slightly out of place. But before anyone could really note anything else there was a loud crash in the far distance of the hallway they were right by.

"What was that?" Roll asked.

"G-ghosts?" Rockman asked with a slight waver to his voice.

Roll smiled at him with a little concern, "I… don't think that's it," she said while patting Rockman's hand. "Let's go check it out though."

Blues and Searchman silently agreed with her and they started to walk down the hallway to see what was going on.

There was a loud bang on a door across from them and Rockman took shelter behind Roll who looked ever so slightly embarrassed. "It's not a ghost Rockman," she sighed.

"What is it?" he asked.

Blues reached out for the doorknob to the closet when there was another crash inside. He pulled on the door knob and found it to be stuck. "It won't open," he said softly.

"Try harder," Roll said simply.

Blues twisted the door knob harder but it wouldn't budge. "It's stuck," he said finally.

Roll looked at it and sighed, "All right, stand back," she said. All three male navis took a step back all wondering what on earth she was going to do. Roll slashed at the poor door with her yellow antennae and effectively destroyed the knob, lock and anything attached. "There," she said brightly.

Rockman reached out and opened it slowly as if almost afraid of what was inside. When the door swung open it revealed a five year old Netto pushing a cleaning bucket off his head. He looked up at Rockman and waved sheepishly, "Ah, hello," he said.

"Netto-kun," Rockman breathed.

Roll was the first to attack however, "Ah, you're so cute!" she squealed and pulled him from the mess he was stuck in into a large hug that seemingly blocked off his airways.

"Ah, Roll-chan… that hurts," Rockman said. "Wait…" /Netto-kun/ he asked.

/Finally, I can hear you/ Netto sighed/I've been trying to contact you for like an hour. What did you do, shut down or something, did Lividity hurt you/

Rockman realized that when he tried to shut out the world upon believing Netto dead he had inadvertently shut out the link it's self. /Sorry/ he said.

"What is going on?" Blues asked.

Netto looked a little less then happy, "Mind telling me? Cause I sure as hell have no clue."

Rockman gave him a small grin, "At least you're alive," he said.

"I'm a little kid…" Netto muttered.

"Why?" Searchman asked.

Netto shrugged and Roll finally put him down. "I don't know. I remember shoving Rockman out of the way, then waking up around here, not very happily either," he muttered. "I was looking for you guys, when I kinda got stuck…" he said with a sheepish grin.

"In a closet?" Rockman asked.

Netto shook his head, "Don't ask."

"Wait, Lividity said that the attack it used only destroyed data but it hit you as an organic being," Searchman said softly.

"Yeah, and?" Netto asked.

"Well, maybe it didn't destroy the link but merely separated it from your human body," Searchman said.

"How long have you had the link?" Blues asked.

Netto and Rockman thought, "I'd say it started…" Rockman said softly.

"When I was five and a half," Netto went on. "When I got stuck in the container and Rockman saved me."

"So the body you're in now is a physical manifestation of the link," Blues concluded.

"Is that possible?" Rockman and Netto both asked.

"Obviously," Searchman replied. "Because there's not really any other explanation is there?"

"Now what?" Netto asked. "I'm stuck as a five year old and apparently everything else is still the same, huh?"

"So it would seem," Rockman sighed. /But at least you're okay./

Netto smiled/I'm not happy about it though/ he reminded his twin.

/I don't care. I'm just glad you're with me/ Rockman said.

/Me too…/ Netto replied.


	7. Questions

Netto walked around the hall with Rockman at his side. "This is so confusing," he muttered. "I'm here but also at my house?"

Rockman shrugged, "I don't get it either, but I guess that's how it happened."

Netto made a fist and punched it into his other hand, "Oh I wish Lividity would show its face here again," he hissed.

"Netto-kun! You can't go up against them. That's dangerous," Rockman told him.

"But its its fault," he said.

"I know," Rockman said comfortingly to his twin. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out."

"Rockman?" Blues called.

"Yeah?" Rockman asked.

"The dimensional converters are overheated, we need to shut them down for a few hours so they can cool off," he explained.

Rockman sighed, "But…"

Netto elbowed him in the thigh, "But nothing, you want the damn things to explode?" he asked.

"No…" Rockman said slowly.

"Then don't complain. You can just go into your PET and I'll go to papa's lab," Netto said simply.

"That works," Blues said.

"But…" Rockman tried to protest.

"I don't think Lividity and Ribbon will try to attack for while," Searchman said softly. "It's not in good battle strategy. And Lividity seems to be all about strategy."

Rockman sighed, "All right, shut down the converters."

Blues went into the room and pressed several buttons on the keyboard to start the shut down sequence, then hit the red button to turn it off completely. Rockman disappeared in a brief shower of pixels and found himself in the net, with an extra passenger hanging tightly onto his legs. "Ah…" Netto squeaked.

"Netto-kun!" Rockman exclaimed.

"What happened?" Roll asked.

Netto looked a little dizzy, "No idea…" he said.

Blues looked at Netto thoughtfully, "Well if he is the manifestation of the link then maybe he's just made out of data," he suggested.

"What, I can't stay in the real world any more?" Netto exclaimed.

"Looks that way…" Rockman said slowly.

Netto looked unhappy but didn't say anything else until the Dimensional Converters were activated again and when they were the brunette simply disappeared.

"Hello?" a voice called out.

Netto spun around in the rotating chair he was sitting in to see Roll looking into the room. "Hey," Netto said half heartedly.

Roll smiled at him, "Upset?" she asked.

Netto crossed his arms, "No," he muttered.

Roll walked over to where Netto was sitting and sat in a chair herself. "You risked a lot doing what you did," she said softly.

"I know," Netto muttered.

"Are you upset about what happened?" Roll asked.

Netto sighed and looked at the ceiling, "Kinda, kinda not. I mean, I understand why it happened but it's still annoying."

Roll gave him a small smile, "It's amazing you were willing to die for Rockman," she told him.

Netto glanced at her, then blushed. "I… well… I can't live if he was dead anyways," he pointed out.

"Were you thinking about that when you tried to save Rockman?" Roll asked him.

"No…" Netto admitted slowly.

Roll smiled but didn't say anything.

Netto glanced at her, "How do you know that?"

"It's not in your nature to worry about that kind of thing," Roll said softly. "You're a lot like Rockman that way."

Netto giggled, "And here I am, now pretty much useless. I can't even stay in the real world without a dimensional area," he sighed.

"But you're alive," Roll pointed out. "And I think that really that's all Rockman cares about."

"Rockman cares about everything," Netto made a face.

It was Roll's turn to laugh, "That's true," she admitted. "And so do you."

Netto looked at her indignantly, "I do not!" he protested.

"Yes you do," she said, "you and Rockman are more alike then you think."

Netto raised an eyebrow, "Really? And here I was under the impression that we're almost opposites."

Roll nodded, "That's true, you're very outgoing and rash, where Rockman is a bit more careful and kinda shy, but you two also are very protective and caring about things."

Netto smiled wistfully, "Sometimes I can't even stand being near him and sometimes, I think that if I wasn't with him every second of the day I'd go insane." Netto made a face, "Rockman can drive me crazy, but I hate being alone."

Roll nodded, "I noticed that. Rockman is the same way. Sometimes he comes to me and complains about you, and sometimes if you're sick or angry at him and won't talk he shuts everyone else out."

Netto shrugged, "Well, I mean we are connected mentally, maybe we can't help it."

"Maybe," Roll said. "And maybe it's just plain brotherly love."

Netto laughed, "Oh sure," he smirked and jumped off the chair.

Roll frowned, "I'm serious."

Netto yawned, "I know," he said simply. "I'm going to bed, night," he said and walked out of the room.

"He's more cryptic then Rockman," Roll said disbelievingly.

Netto walked into his father's lab and lay down on the couch. He stared up at the ceiling and sighed. "This sucks," he said to the air.

"What does?" a voice asked from the doorway.

Netto turned an eye to Rockman who was standing in the entryway of the lab. "I don't know... everything," he said.

"Anything in particular?" Rockman asked as he sat next to Netto on the couch.

Netto sat up and looked at his bigger twin. "The fact that I can't maintain form in the real world," he said softly.

"Oh…" Rockman said knowingly. "I thought it upset you. Why?"

Netto sighed, "It's like… I'm not human anymore," he said in a low voice. "I can't exist in the real world while in this form. But the thing is, this has obviously always been apart of me since I was five… if that's so then… what am I?"

Rockman thought hard, "You're Netto-kun, for one thing," he said with a small laugh. "And you're obviously mostly human because we've never had problems with our link before. These are quite the extenuating circumstances, Netto-kun," Rockman pointed out.

Netto brought his knees to his chest, "I know that, but still…"

Rockman picked up Netto and held him close, "Netto-kun, when you disappeared for that small amount of time I thought it was all over. I couldn't even begin to fathom a life without you and I didn't want to try. The fact that you're here, and with me, and that you can talk to me makes all the difference in the world. And know this, weather you're not entirely human, or you are makes no difference to me, all I care is that you're here with me and that I know I'm able to protect you."

Netto was at first surprised that Rockman was holding him and had half a mind to fight it, but then he quieted down and listened. Netto leaned into Rockman's embrace and felt kinda bad that he had complained about his small predicament when Rockman had lived with the same problem all his life. "Rockman…" he said softly. "Saito-nii-san," he said with a small grin.

Rockman laughed, "There's something I don't hear very often."

"I thought you didn't like being called that," Netto said.

Rockman shook his head, "I don't mind. I just don't like it when you use it when you're angry."

"Oh…" Netto said. "Sorry."

Rockman gave him a small squeeze and let him go. "Its okay, Netto-kun, I'm just glad you're safe right now."

Netto smiled, "Thank god for the little things?" he asked.

"That's one way to think about it," Rockman said thoughtfully.

Netto sighed and flopped onto his back. "Well, once this is all over we can figure out how to deal with this," he said with a yawn.

"Tired?" Rockman asked.

Netto nodded, "You have no idea."

"Then go to sleep, I'll see you tomorrow," Rockman said.

"Night," Netto said sleepily and turned on his side.

Rockman sat there for the next half hour and watched Netto drop off to sleep. Then he himself fell asleep not long after, but with his buster summoned, just in case anything happened.


	8. Questions pt 2

Netto walked around the Sci Labs building, gazing at anything and really seeing nothing. Thoughts and questions ate at his mind. Mostly they revolved around the simplistic idea of what was he. Rockman had told him many times to must not think about it, but it wasn't something he could just push out of his mind. Absorbed in his thoughts he didn't watch where he was going until he ran straight into Blues. "Ah," Netto yelped as he fell backwards.

Blues looked down at the small child. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Netto rubbed the back of his head, "I'm fine," he muttered as he stood up.

Blues eyed him and watched as Netto made it to his feel. Netto felt the stare of the tall navi and blinked up at him. "Yes?" he asked.

Blues blinked behind his shades and then turned around, "Nothing."

Netto glared at him, "What's wrong?" he asked saucily.

"Nothing," Blues said again.

"Yeah right," Netto snorted. "You're a really bad liar," he added.

Blues raised an eyebrow and blinked at Netto. "How so?" he asked.

Netto crossed his arms, "Well for one thing, 'nothing' is a really bad answer to give to anything. If nothing wasn't wrong then I'd be 12 and you'd be with Enzan, am I right?"

Blues sighed, "Why do you care?" he asked.

Netto blinked, "I don't know, maybe because you and Searchman have done nothing but walk around for the past two days. Roll and Rockman are hanging out, I'm trying my best and you two won't talk or anything. I know you're anti-social but it doesn't take an idiot to realize you're upset."

Blues was taken aback at Netto's rather blunt attack. "We merely are trying to figure out what has happened."

Netto frowned, "You miss Enzan, don't you?"

Blues sighed, now he knew what Rockman meant when he said that Netto was being too introspective. It must be hard to not be able to keep any secrets to yourself. "Yes," he admitted.

Netto shrugged, "Well, I miss him too you know," he pointed out. "And Laika, and mama, and papa and pretty much everyone. But being unhappy doesn't do anything so what's the point?"

Blues stared blankly at Netto. "You have a very odd way of looking at things, Netto-san."

Netto blinked, "Do I?"

Blues looked into his childish face, and even though he looked like a little kid it then became clear that Netto wasn't as happy as he pretended to be. "You're upset too," he mused.

Netto snorted, "Hell yes I'm upset. I'm five!"

"Not that," Blues said. "You're upset about something else."

Netto raised an eyebrow, "Now who's being the pushy one."

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to," Blues said softly and turned around to walked down the hall.

"Wait!" Netto called out. Blues turned around to see Netto looking vaguely uncomfortable. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Blues said.

"And you won't tell Rockman?" Netto pressed.

Blues became uncomfortable, if Netto didn't want to tell Rockman then maybe it wasn't really his place to keep it from him. "Please, I don't want to worry him."

Blues sighed, "All right."

"Promise?" Netto asked.

Again the feeling of foreboding washed through Blues.

Netto saw him shift slightly, "I just want to ask you something that's all."

Blues sighed, "Fine, what's your question."

Netto opened his mouth then closed it, as if he was trying to think of what to say. "Do you think… I'm human?" he asked finally.

Blues let out a long breath. How on earth was he supposed to answer that? "That's an odd question," he noted.

Netto made a face, "Look, Rockman won't give me a straight answer. And I understand why, but I need to know."

Blues shook his head, "Netto-san, I can't even begin to start answering that question."

"Blues, please?" Netto asked. "I need to know. I can't answer my own question and like hell if Rockman and Roll are going to answer. I want to know."

Blues sighed, honesty was always said to be the best policy. "Netto-san, I…" He sighed. "No, I don't think you're entirely human anymore."

A brief look of sadness passed Netto's eyes then he gave Blues a large grin. "Thanks!" Netto said brightly and walked away.

"Netto-san," Blues said softly.

"Yes?" Netto asked.

"Don't be upset about it," Blues said. Then he looked uncomfortable, pep speeches really weren't his thing. "It doesn't matter."

Netto gave Blues a small genuine smile for his attempt at making him feel a little better, "Thanks," he said and walked down the hall.

Blues watched him until he turned a corner then sighed. Netto may not have been entirely human but he still was upset and he pitied Rockman for having to feel the emotions that Netto was probably experiencing at the time.

"Lividity-sama?" Ribbon asked the taller navi with big eyes.

"Yes, child?" Lividity asked.

"Can we do something?" Ribbon asked.

Lividity for the first time in a long time sighed. "Child, I need time to plan out the rest of the movement. We can play later."

"But I want to play now!" Ribbon whined.

"Then go play by yourself," Lividity said with a wave of its hand.

Ribbon looked slightly scandalized as she ran out of the room. "I wanna play," she whined to herself. "Where can I play? I wanna play with someone…" a thought came to her head. She giggled at her own brilliance and turned to a familiar link.

Netto wandered the empty halls on his own for a bit, pondering again. Blues' reply to his question was not surprising but that didn't keep it from hurting. Several times Rockman had tried to contact him and all those times Netto had done his best to block them out. He knew his troubled emotions were being felt by Rockman but he wasn't in the mood to explain why. He wanted his privacy and after the third attempt at mental contact Rockman realized this and left him alone.

There was a brief flash of light in the corner of his eye as he walked down the hallway. It came from a monitor that was on in the room to his left. It was a research facility on viruses. In spite of himself Netto went to investigate, just in case a virus got free or something was happening.

He walked over to the monitor and stared at it. It looked innocently blank while he glared at it. He sighed and turned around, but just as he did there was a small giggle behind him. He whirled around to see Ribbon's face on the monitor, "You're that boy…" she said with amusement in her voice.

"You!" Netto yelped.

Ribbon got a wonderful idea, "Catch me if you can!" she sing songed and zipped out of the computer.

Netto took in a breath, his mind whirling then he took off after the navi's data signature. She appeared in several monitors in front of him and he followed her trying to figure out a way to trap her before she materialized in the real world. 'I need to get help…' he thought. Then he remembered the cool way he had treated Rockman. 'No, I can handle this,' he told himself. 'I can.'

"You're slow!" her voice came from ahead of him and his breath came in short pants as he followed her.

Ribbon giggled as she continued to play her game with Netto. After chasing her for a couple of minutes, Netto realized something. "She's not trying to hurt me," he thought. 'She's playing.'

Ribbon laughed and Netto finally ducked under another monitor and when she went into it he pulled the plug, trapping her inside. "All right," Netto said.

"Wow, no one's ever caught me before!" a cheerful voice said behind him. "Not even Lividity-sama!"

Netto whirled around to face Ribbon who was standing right in front of him. "You!"

Ribbon looked at him with an amused expression in her eyes, "Didn't you used to be older?" she asked innocently.


	9. Playing a Game

Netto backed up away from the navi child. "N-no…" he said.

"Liar!" Ribbon accused him. "You were older, because you were taller then me. But now I'm taller then you." She giggled. "Why are you younger?" she asked in the same innocent voice.

"None of your business," Netto hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"None of your business," Ribbon mocked him. "Actually," she laughed and disappeared. Then she reappeared behind Netto, "I just wanted to play."

Netto whirled around and tripped over his feet, landing on his bottom and bringing fourth a peel of laughter from the navi. "Sorry," she said and held out her hand. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Netto slapped her hand away and stood on his own. "Get away from me," he hissed.

A brief look of sadness passed over her large eyes before she looked puzzled. "Why?"

"You tried to kill me!" Netto snapped.

Ribbon shook her head, "No I didn't. I was just playing," she said.

"You were not!" Netto yelled at her. "You were stabbing at us with a sword!"

"I was playing!" she yelled back, trying to defend herself.

"Listen to me," Netto said slowly, "If you had ever caught us, do you know what would have happened?"

Ribbon slowly shook her head.

"You would have killed us. We would have died. That's not playing, what you were doing was fighting," Netto told her.

"Lividity-sama said we were playing," she whispered.

"You think Lividity was telling you the truth?" Netto asked.

A look of anger filled Ribbon's eyes. "Are you saying Lividity-sama is a liar?"

Netto crossed his arms, "Well, why would it tell you that you were playing huh? Why say something like that when it was trying to destroy human kind all along?"

"Shut up!" Ribbon yelled.

"Lividity is trying to destroy the humans!" Netto yelled. "Why do you think that's right? Is it a game, is that what Lividity told you? Or did you have a bad experience with an operator?"

"Shut up," Ribbon said again.

"Why?" Netto asked. "Because I'm right? You're not playing a game, Ribbon. This is real life. I'm not human anymore, your 'Lividity-sama' achieved what it wanted, but we're not going to sit down and let that happen. Playing your stupid games doesn't do anything but hurt other. Lividity is using you," he told her.

Ribbon's blue eyes narrowed on Netto, "Shut up," she said in a low and even tone.

Netto glared back, "Do you think I'm happy with the way things turned out?"

Ribbon held up her hand and a piece of data went into it. It formed into a dagger and she appeared in front of Netto, holding it to his throat. He glared back at her, "Is this a game, Ribbon? Are you having fun? Or are you upset because you realize everything is a lie."

Ribbon held the knife a second longer and let it go, "You're…" she sniffed. "You're the same age that my operator was when he died. Why do humans die?" she asked.

Netto blinked, that was a rather sudden question. "Because… humans can't live forever. Humans get sick and they die its part of nature."

"But you're not dead," Ribbon said with tears in her eyes. "Why aren't you dead if Lividity-sama hit you with that attack?"

Netto looked down, "I don't know. I'm not dead in any respect right now just… split."

Ribbon shook her head, "If humans are so great and they are our masters then why do they die? Why don't they live with us forever? Why…" she sniffed, "Why can't they play with us?"

Netto had no idea what she was talking about, "Ribbon, humans die. And navis are deleted. Besides, we're not your masters, we're just… human."

"You're not human," Ribbon snapped.

Netto stepped back, then looked down. "Yeah, I know."

Ribbon looked up at him and frowned, "How old are you… really?" she asked.

Netto rubbed his arm, "I'm 12 years old. When Lividity hit me with that attack it separated a data component from my organic body and created this body," he said. "My human body is in the real world with the rest of the humans."

"Asleep?" Ribbon asked, her childish innocence once more shining through.

Netto shook his head, "No, Ribbon, the human's aren't asleep. They're… brainwashed. Lividity did something to brainwash all the humans so they wouldn't be part of the cyber world."

Ribbon nodded, "So navis could learn to live and fend for themselves. I know," she said with a grin. "Lividity-sama told me that everything I did to survive after Jamie-chan died was something every navi should know because it made them stronger."

Netto shook his head, "That's not right," he murmured.

"Why not?" Ribbon asked.

"Because, Lividity was planning something else. I think, Lividity was merely using you," he said.

Ribbon shook her head, "No," she protested violently.

Netto frowned but didn't pursue it. "How old are you?" he asked.

Ribbon looked downcast, "In your years, I am 25 years old," she whispered.

Netto blinked, "How long…"

"20 years ago, he died," she said. "My Jamie-chan."

Netto sighed, "I'm sorry," he said finally. "You know you don't have to go back to Lividity," he said. "You can stay here with us."

Lividity put her hand on Netto's head and looked at him with eyes that betrayed her true age. "That's sweet, but I'm sorry, I don't think I can abandon Lividity-sama just yet."

Netto glared at her, "Then I'm sorry," he muttered. /Rockman…/ he said mentally, trying to make contact with his twin.

Lividity ruffled his hair then regained her cheery disposition. "So, do you want to play?" she asked.

"Huh?" Netto replied.

Ribbon giggled again, "Jamie-chan used to play with me all the time. Don't you wanna play?"

/Yes/ Rockman answered.

Netto narrowed his eyes, "Sorry, but I need to go back to Rockman." /Ribbon is here/ he told him.

/What/

Ribbon cast her gaze downwards so Netto couldn't see her eyes. "Is that so?" she asked.

/Rockman, how quickly can you get here/

/I'm coming right now/ Rockman yelped.

"Yeah," Netto answered. "I'll see you next time you come and 'play'," he muttered.

Ribbon held out her hand and a small ball of data formed in it. "Then play this last game with me!" she said brightly.

Netto blinked and backed away, he could sense her emotions were in turmoil and that right then wasn't the time to try and talk to her. "No thanks," he said. /Hurry/ he thought loudly to his twin.

/Netto-kun/

"Catch!" Ribbon yelled and threw the baseball sized lump of data at Netto. He backed away but it exploded right in front of him drenching him in the silvery data. He tripped over his feet and landed on the floor where the now sticky data kept him glued down.

/Rockman/ Netto yelped.

/I'm coming, what happened/ Rockman asked quickly.

/Just hurry/ he replied.

Ribbon went over to where Netto was struggling in the sticky mass and patted his head. "I played at your house, do you want to come over and play at mine?"

Netto tried to push the data away but it was futile. "No, Ribbon listen to me, you're…" she put some of the data over his mouth to keep him from talking.

"I think Lividity-sama would like to talk to you," she said cheerfully and picked Netto up with ridiculous ease off the floor.

/NII-SAN/ Netto thought.

Rockman burst through the door where he last felt Netto's presence but no one was there. "Netto-kun…" he said softly.

"Did you have fun playing, child?" Lividity asked when it felt Ribbon link back into the large net space.

"Oh yes, Lividity-sama!" she said, "And I found something I think you would find interesting."

"Oh?" Lividity asked.

Ribbon walked in front of Lividity with an unconscious Netto cradled in her arms. "He's little!" she giggled.

Lividity's eyes widened then a cool grin formed over its lips. "How interesting," it murmured.

"Can we play when he wakes up?" she asked.

"Yes my child, don't let him out of your sight," Lividity instructed.

"Yes Lividity-sama!" Ribbon cheered and vanished.


	10. Chapter 10

"Blues!" Rockman yelled while running down the hall. "Searchman, Roll!"

"What?" Blues asked, sticking his head out of the control room.

Rockman ran over to where Blues was then skidded to a stop, panting. "Tell me you've seen Netto-kun," he gasped.

"No," Blues said. "Why, what's wrong?"

"He called me, and when I went to where he was he was gone. He told me Ribbon was here," Rockman said quickly. "Did you find her data signature?"

Blues eyed Rockman, "Netto-san… called you?"

"Blues, what happened?" Rockman snapped. It was quite apparent he was on the edge of panic.

Blues turned to his computer and pressed some keys, "Nothing has been forced through," he mused. "I can't tell."

"Oh god," Rockman said.

"Can you… uh… 'call' Netto-san now?" Blues asked.

Rockman shook his head, "He won't answer. Blues, something happened, Netto-kun is gone."

Netto woke up to someone stroking his hair gently. At first he thought he was back at the Sci Labs building and that Roll had somehow found him, but then he remembered Ribbon and what had happened earlier. He forced his eyes open to see a vast room with various toys dotted throughout it. "You're awake?" a voice asked.

"Hm?" Netto replied, he was surprised at how weak he felt.

Ribbon pulled Netto's body into her arms and cradled him, "Sorry, Lividity-sama made me promise to keep you here," she explained.

Netto looked up at the hyper navi, "What do you want?" he asked.

Ribbon grinned faintly, "I want to play," she said. "When I play, I don't feel sad anymore."

Netto growled and switched tactics, "Why can't I move?"

"I used a binding program to keep you from running away," Ribbon explained in a falsely happy voice.

Netto shut his eyes and exhaled slowly. He knew there was an extra program but he wasn't sure if it was needed or not, now that he knew it wasn't all he needed to do was delete it. Ribbon looked on curiously as Netto focused on the program and deleted it, enabling himself to move.

"Amazing!" Ribbon cheered and hugged Netto tightly.

"Let go…" Netto said trying to break out of her grasp.

Ribbon smiled, "Aww, you're just a little kid though. You can't get away."

Netto blinked. She was right, he may be able to delete programs and use the link to hack into things but the fact remained that his body was that of a five year old. "Let go," he said.

"If you promise not to run away," Ribbon said. "Or Lividity-sama will be mad."

Netto glared at her, "You still believe that freak!" he yelled.

A flash of anger passed over her eyes before she nodded, "Of course I do. Lividity-sama is the one who saved me."

Netto gave her a frustrated sigh, "Why did you take me here?" he asked.

"Because, you're interesting," she giggled. "You're 12 but you look like your 5, you're human but you're not, you have power over data like I do. You're different," she said. "Not like other humans."

"What does that mean?" Netto asked.

Ribbon smiled, "Exactly what I said. You're very interesting," she said.

Netto pushed against her and got free. He took his sudden freedom to make a break for it and run off. "You're not going to get anywhere," Ribbon sing songed. "You're in the net and there's only one link out of here."

Netto blinked and stopped in the middle of the toy strewn room. "What do you want?" he asked.

Ribbon shrugged, "I've told you."

Netto crossed his arms, "Stop kidding around. If you wanted to 'play' you could have done so at Sci Labs. What are you after?"

Ribbon sighed and stood up, "You're very inquisitive," she said.

"You didn't answer my question," Netto replied.

Ribbon scowled, "Why do you care?" she asked him.

"I want to know why you're so… upset," Netto said. "I mean, you're not a little kid like you pretend to be, you're 25. Why are you forcing yourself to live a lie? What's the point?"

Ribbon looked slightly angry as she looked at the child half way across the room. "You don't know anything," she hissed.

Netto had finally managed to break through the façade that was Ribbon's personality. "So, something did happen."

Ribbon crossed her arms, "I already told you," she snapped, all of her previous child likeness gone.

"Jamie?" Netto asked.

A sad look crossed Ribbon's face, "Yes…" she said, "My Jamie-chan."

Netto's curiosity got the better of him. "What happened?"

Ribbon gazed at Netto and frowned, "Jamie-chan got sick… I think he had leukemia, I can't really remember anymore. And after about 9 months he died. After that happened I ran away and wandered the net for several years before my programming became obsolete and I no longer could survive in the net. It was around then when Lividity-sama took me in and upgraded me and took care of me, for years Lividity-sama did that telling me that no other navi would ever feel my pain again. I wanted to believe Lividity-sama…" she said softly.

"You were on your own for 20 years?" Netto asked her.

Ribbon nodded, "Yeah, it was hard. The whole time I only wanted Jamie-chan."

Netto looked sad, "I'm sorry," he said softly.

Ribbon stood up and walked over to where Netto was and Netto didn't see the point in running away. She knelt down and ruffled his hair, "You look so much like my Jamie-chan," she whispered.

"You know what Lividity is doing is wrong," Netto told her, trying to convince her to see the truth.

Ribbon sighed, "I know," she replied. "But… what humans do to navis is wrong to you know," she replied.

Netto frowned, "I never said otherwise," he pointed out. "But you're making it seem like Jamie hurt you on purpose."

Ribbon felt a sob collect in her throat, "Jamie-chan would never do that," she told herself. "He didn't…"

Netto frowned, the more he talked to Ribbon the more he realized that she was just a confused navi who was manipulated for the wrong purposes. "Ribbon, you can't keep living like this," he told her.

Ribbon sighed and gathered Netto into a tight hug. "I can't leave Lividity-sama," she sighed. "I can't."

Netto thought about struggling but then he decided against it since she was so emotionally unstable that it might prove a bad decision to make it worse. "Ribbon, I can't stay here," he said.

Ribbon let him go and stared at him, "Why?" she asked.

"I need to go back to Rockman," he said.

Ribbon frowned, "I'm sorry, but Lividity-sama told me that you aren't allowed out of my sight," she said. "You have to stay with me."

Netto growled, his temper beginning to rise again. 'I need to get out of here,' he thought.

Ribbon smiled and stood up, her sunny disposition returning, "So, do you want to play?"

Rockman finally found the link where Ribbon had been. After Blues analyzed it and agreed with Rockman they all went through it and began to follow where it led.

"What happened again?" Roll asked.

"Netto-kun called me and said that Ribbon was there and when I went to go check they were gone. Ribbon took Netto-kun, I know it," he said.

Roll frowned, "Don't worry, we'll find him," she said.

Rockman nodded, "I know," he sighed. "I just hope he's okay."

Roll patted his shoulder comfortingly right before they came out the other end of the link.

"So this is where Lividity is?" Blues asked.

They were in a huge room that was empty and showed no signs of life, navi or otherwise. "I hope," Rockman said doubtfully.

/Rockman/ a voice called.

Rockman's eyes widened/Netto-kun/

/I'm in a room with Ribbon. There should be a hidden link somewhere, I can't find it/ he explained.

Rockman nodded/All right. Don't worry, we'll find you./

Netto gave Rockman a small laugh/I know./


	11. Chapter 11

Back in Ribbon's play room, Ribbon had merely taken to drawing into herself while holding on to Netto as if he was a life support. Not that he minded, as long as she wasn't being creepy and psychopathic, he really didn't care. He had finally stopped trying to glean information from her because she was just getting increasingly upset.

Ribbon sighed and held Netto a little tighter, fancying she was holding her Jamie. It was weird, but for the longest time, she was afraid to let go of her 'age' and acknowledge that she was 20 years older then she pretended to be. With each passing year it became harder and harder, but with the more effort put forth by her, the happier Lividity seemed to get.

It was amazing, Lividity had done so much for her, but she did nothing in return. She was happy with as many chances to play as any child would wish, but she was constantly unhappy. Never being able to explore her maturity for fear of loosing Jamie and becoming less and less happy with her façade.

It wasn't appearance. She loved looking like she was 8. On the streets of the Net City, she could oftentimes get pity from humans and their navis wandering around, maybe a free treat. But as for living her life, as an 8 year old when every day her mind told her otherwise was an insult to her way of thinking. It wasn't natural, nor realistic to continue to live the way she was.

But why give it all up? Why should she forego fake innocence in place of harsh reality? It wouldn't make her happier, nor more cheerful. Just the opposite, it would make her even more upset. Regardless, she was depressed to begin with, so what would the point be anyways.

In Ribbon's mind, playing was just a metaphor for escaping the real world. She would love nothing more then to trade her powers and upgrades and just be a simple navi wither her Jamie. But life didn't view her destiny with such a kind light and so she had taken the lots given to her. Games, toys, power and Lividity were all there for her. But she didn't care, she only wanted to be happy. Happiness wasn't a commodity she could afford any longer.

"Netto-chan?" she asked.

"Hm?" Netto replied. He was starting to get vaguely creeped out by the girl's attitude and mood swings.

"If my Jamie-chan were alive, and here right now, do you think he would like what I've become?" she asked in a soft voice.

Netto bit his lip, now how the hell was he supposed to answer that? "I think… that if he were here…" Netto's voice trailed off hesitantly.

"He wouldn't even recognize me," she said with a smile. "He'd wonder 'who is that?' or 'why does she look familiar?' I'm no longer what I was, Netto-chan. All these years I tried to preserve my original identity and all I ended up doing was destroying it."

Netto frowned, "Yeah, well it's not all your fault, Lividity…"

"Used me, told me lies to have a pawn. I'm perfectly aware of what I've been used for, Netto-chan. I know where I lie in life, I'm not that stupid, just blind to what I don't want to see," Ribbon said dejectedly.

Netto shrugged, "I can't really argue with that," he muttered.

Ribbon's candy blue eyes widened. Netto looked up at her and frowned. "Ribbon, I'll be blunt at this point because I don't see any reason not to tell you these things anymore. I think you're insane for one thing. You've lived a lie for 20 years just because you're unhappy? If I lived like that, I couldn't stand myself." Netto wriggled out of her limp arms and stood over her. "Another thing is that, you knew Lividity used you, but in your need for an escape you turned a blind eye to it. How can you live like that?" he asked.

Ribbon took in a deep breath and giggled, "Because I didn't want to live after my Jamie-chan died," she said in a small, child-like voice.

"What?" Netto snapped.

"I tried to kill myself, that's why I ran away. Navis can take away their own data structure you know, you just have to find a program to do it. But before I could, Lividity found me, and told me of the wonderful ideals of a new world. Lividity said… the pain would stop," Ribbon said.

"Are you stupid?" Netto asked her.

Ribbon looked up at the angry five year old with an astonished expression. "There is no life worth taking away just because some one else dies!" he said. Then he blushed, "Unless there really is no choice," he added in a low tone.

"How can you say that? You don't know the cost of not living with someone you love," she told him.

"Oh? How do you know what I know and don't know?" Netto asked her, his anger rising. "I'm a person but I can't keep my form in my own world any more, I'm 12 but I look like I'm 5. I'm supposedly human, but I can't even be sure about that any more. What do you know about me? Or Rockman, or anyone your idiotic plan had affected. Who are you to judge anyone until you know who they are? Who is Lividity to do the same?"

Ribbon stood up and glared at him, "I'm a hell of a lot more mature then you are, that's for sure," she snapped. "I've seen and heard things that would drive others to insanity."

"You don't act like it!" Netto retorted. "You say you're 28 or whatever, but you act like a little kid? Why? Why live your life as a lie?"

Ribbon gritted her teeth, "Because it was the only way to cope," she hissed. "Being young and naïve let me escape my world, why else?"

"That is stupid," Netto stated flatly.

Ribbon stared at him with her mouth open for a few seconds. At that time, Rockman managed to find the link and he came in through it just in time to see Ribbon burst into tears. /What did you tell her/ he asked his twin.

/The truth/ he muttered.

/Netto-kun, what if she gets angry/ Rockman asked rushing over to them and placing himself between Netto and Ribbon.

"Why?" she asked with a sob.

Everyone else came through the link to see the drama unfold.

"Why?" Ribbon asked again.

"Why what?" Rockman asked.

Ribbon shook her head. "I don't know," she said softly. "I…" she shook her head again.

Netto frowned, "What's wrong, is your perfect world not quite what it seems?" he snapped.

"Netto-kun!" Rockman hissed.

Ribbon frowned and looked thoughtful, "My world…" she whispered. "My Jamie-chan…"

"He's gone," Netto said softly.

Ribbon blinked and took in a deep breath, "I know," she said. "I… yeah, I know." 


	12. Chapter 12

"Netto-kun, we should go," Rockman said and stepped forward to take a hold of his brother.

"Wait," Ribbon gasped.

Netto winced and Rockman's grip on his shoulder tightened. "Yes?"

"I…" Ribbon blinked. "I think…"

"Yeah?" Netto asked, slightly rudely.

Ribbon glared at him, "I want to help."

Netto blinked, "Oh…"

Roll smiled and walked over to the smaller navi, "Are you sure?" she asked.

Ribbon nodded, "Yeah, I know things can never go back to the way they were and it's no use trying to make it so. I might as well just face the facts and make the best of my life."

"That's very mature," Roll said with a small smile.

Ribbon gave Roll one of her childish grins, "Yeah, well don't get used to it," she said.

Netto grinned and turned around to face Blues and Searchman, "Well?" he asked.

Both navis shifted uncomfortably but gave small nods of consent in spite of it.

"Yay!" Ribbon said cheerfully.

"I thought you said you were going to accept the truth," Netto told her with his arms crossed.

"Yeah," Ribbon said with a grin. "That doesn't mean I can't act the way I want to."

Rockman smiled, "I don't think you're the right person to tell her otherwise, Netto-kun."

"What?" Netto snapped.

"Nothing," Rockman said innocently. "Come on, we need to back down and plan something. With Ribbon's help."

"Yes!" Ribbon cheered and disappeared into her hidden link with everyone else close behind.

"It would appear I am alone…" Lividity said with a small smile. "Time to finish what I started."

Finally they got back to sci labs and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they were back behind the faux protection of the dimensional area. "Well then, what should we do?" Blues asked.

Ribbon put a finger to her lips and posed cutely but it was apparent she was deep in thought. "Well, Lividity-sama said that it was going to do something to make sure that the net could never connect back to the real world. I'm not sure how Lividity-sama was planning to do it though."

"It what?" Netto snapped.

Ribbon shrugged, "That's all I know," she said.

"Do you know where?" Rockman asked.

Ribbon shook her head, "No, but I do know when!" she said cutely.

"When?" everyone asked her.

"Two days," she said.

"So we have to days to think of a plan," Blues sighed.

"Yeup!" Ribbon cheered.

"Greaaat," Netto said sarcastically.

The next day everyone was still planning, except Netto and Ribbon. Netto was asleep out of pure habit and Ribbon merely proclaimed she was bored and she disappeared down a hall to sit and think. Something that she desperately needed to do.

Blues, Rockman, Searchman and Roll talked over their current predicament in hushed tones while Netto slept on Rockman's lap. "What should we do?" Rockman asked.

Blues frowned, "We need a location," he muttered. "Without that, how can we launch an attack?"

Rockman leaned back in the chair he was sitting and let out a deep breath. "Are we sure the link is hidden?" he asked.

"Not even Ribbon knows where it is," Roll said. "How can we find it?"

"It might be easier to find from the real world," Searchman said.

"We can't get into the real world," Rockman pointed out.

"No, but Netto-san could," said Blues. "We need to get him back into his normal body."

"How?" Rockman asked.

Blues shook his head, "I have no idea," he admitted.

Roll frowned, "He was split by an attack that somehow separated the data from his human form… could we possibly… I don't know… download him back into his body?" she asked.

"We would have to use Saito.bat for that…" Rockman said in a worried voice. "Papa said…"

"We know what your father said," Searchman told him. "But we need to fix this and if that's how then that's what we should do."

Rockman sighed and rubbed his head, "I know."

"Well?" Blues asked.

"I'll ask Netto-kun about it when he wakes up. It's ultimately his decision in the end," Rockman pointed out.

"We know," Roll said.

"Netto-kun?" Rockman asked his sleepy brother as he slowly woke up.

Netto yawned, "Yeah?" he asked.

"You okay?"

Netto frowned and sat up, looking at Rockman with a concerned look in his eyes. "I'm fine, why?" he asked.

Rockman shook his head, "I've just been worried about you lately."

Netto smiled, "Yeah, I know."

"I know you know," Rockman said with a short laugh.

"But of course," Netto teased.

They both laughed before their expressions became somber again.

"Netto-kun, we came up with a plan to possibly find where Lividity is and get you back into your body," Rockman told him.

"Oh?" Netto asked. "How?"

Rockman sighed, "I said if we became desperate we could download you back into your body using the Saito.bat link."

Netto's eyes widened briefly before he sighed, "And?"

"What?" Rockman asked.

"What do you think about it?" Netto replied.

"I think…" Rockman's mouth twisted. "I think it's dangerous," he admitted. "But I also think that if it's something that needs to be done to get you back to normal then we should try."

Netto smiled, "I glad you see it that way."

"You know I only said what you wanted to hear," Rockman told him.

Netto nodded, "Yeah, I know."

"So, your decision?" Rockman asked.

"I want to be human again," Netto said. "Or at least as human as I possibly can. I'll do it."

Rockman took in a deep breath. "I figured that's what you would say," he said with a small smile.

Netto smiled, "Is it all right with you?" he asked. "If you really don't want me to I won't…" he said softly.

Rockman shook his head, "No, I think you have the right to choose for yourself. I can't pretend to know what you're going through, nor will I. So right now I'll just let you decide for yourself."

Netto looked at the floor then took in a deep breath, "I want to go back to my normal body…" he said slowly.

Rockman nodded, he knew that was coming. "All right," he answered.

Netto smiled and sat on the couch next to Rockman. "Thanks," he said softly.

Rockman hugged Netto, "No problem, truth be told, I want to see you like your normal self too."

Netto giggled, "That would be nice," he admitted. "Then maybe I could reach some of the stuff on Papa's desk."

Rockman laughed outright, "I can see that."

Later, Netto and Rockman told everyone else of their decision and got the consent from the others. "We need someone in the real world without the aid of Dimensional Area's," Searchman noted. "Otherwise we might not be able to stop Lividity."

Netto nodded, "Yeah, not to mention I'd just kinda like to be… normal again," he said slowly.

Rockman ruffled his hair. /Normal/ he teased.

/Hush, you/ Netto replied, although he wasn't upset about it.

Rockman nodded and looked up. "So, how will we go about this?" he asked.

"Do you know where Papa keeps the core data on Saito.bat?" Netto replied.

Rockman looked thoughtful, "Yeah, I do. Why?"

"Because, that's where you're gonna have to change the program to get me back into my body," Netto pointed out. "We can't do it by will obviously or it've happened already."

"What do we do?" Rockman asked.

Netto shrugged, "I have no clue. I've never seen the program. Can't you tell if there's an abnormality in a program?"

"Yes…" Rockman said slowly.

"Then undo it," Netto said simply. "That should make things go back to normal."

"And if it doesn't work?" Rockman asked.

Netto shifted uncomfortably, "Nothing ventured nothing gained, right?" he asked in a slightly off beat cheerful voice.

"Netto-kun…" Rockman said in a strained voice.

"No," Netto cut him off. "We're going to finish this and I will get back to normal. Because that's how we can handle it, right?"

Rockman sighed, "Right," he agreed. "I'll handle the program."

Netto smiled, "I'll leave it up to you then," he said brightly.

Rockman nodded and pointed down the hall. "The initial Saito.bat mainframe is on his laptop. It should be in his office."

Netto nodded, "Yeah, he never really uses that computer anymore, does he?"

"I think he's afraid too," Rockman admitted.

"I can see why," Blues pointed out.

Roll nodded, "Yeah, me too."

Rockman opened the door and searched around in some old file cabinets. "I think… here it is!" he said while pulling a slightly used, silver laptop out of the top drawer.

Netto looked at it. "The core program is on that thing?" he asked.

Rockman nodded, "Yeup. The computer really isn't needed anymore now that the program has manifest it's self in you and me but I guess papa keeps it around for instances like these."

"Or it's because he's a packrat," Netto pointed out.

A smile quirked Rockman's lips as he turned the laptop on, "That too," he admitted.

Netto took in a deep breath as the machine slowly came to life. Rockman tapped on a few keys and opened the program. "Well Netto-kun, I think I've found where it splits off, all I have to do is reconnect the program to your body. You ready?"

Netto nodded solemnly. "Ready," he said.

Rockman took in a deep breath and pressed the enter key.

Netto's eyes snapped open. He was lying on his bed, looking at the ceiling in his house. He sat up and ran to a mirror, just to make sure. He grinned as his twelve year old self stared back at him.

/Netto-kun/ Rockman called.

/I'm here/ Netto replied.

/Oh thank god. I figured you would log out but it was still scary for a few seconds. Did everything go all right/ he asked.

/Everything is perfectly fine/ Netto answered with one last peek at his reflection as he headed out the door of his room. /I'll be at sci-labs, ten minutes tops./

/All right Netto-kun, I'll see you then/ Rockman replied and cut off the link.

Netto padded down stairs to see his mother slowly stirring noodles in a pot without really looking at anything. He sighed sadly and walked on, he was about to fix everything, he just needed time.

Lividity looked at the shimmering program in front of it. It reached out a gloved hand and sparked it with some of its own power. The program flared for a few seconds then settled back down. Lividity smirked and pulled its hand back into its cape. "The prototype for Dimensional Areas," it smirked. "Pulled out and hidden because of its instability, yes I think this will do quite nicely."

Netto ran into the sci labs building as the dimensional area came up behind him. As he got into the room, Rockman was already logging back into the real world with the help of the dimensional area.

"Netto-kun, are you okay?" Rockman asked him.

Netto held up his hands, "I've already told you, I'm fine."

"But…" Rockman said slowly.

"Fine," Netto insisted.

Roll giggled and walked over to where Rockman was standing over Netto. "Rockman, we should be worrying about Lividity," she reminded him gently.

Rockman blinked and nodded, "Right."

Netto peered around his navi and saw Ribbon standing next to Blues. She smiled and walked over to him. "Hello!" she said cheerfully.

"Do you really like looking like you're eight?" he asked her dubiously.

Ribbon shrugged, "I told you, it's not my body that matters. Besides, I like getting treated like an eight year old. Everyone tells me I'm cute!"

Netto blinked then looked slightly awkward. "Right," he said slowly and turned to his navi. "Do we know where Lividity is?" he asked Rockman.

Rockman shook his head, "We only know where Lividity last was."

"Where?"

Blues and Searchman nodded towards the computer screen behind them. "Lividity just appeared near here when you logged out. We're not sure what it took but some kind of file is missing."

"We're trying to find which file was taken," Rockman explained.

Netto frowned, "Did you look at the file database?"

Rockman nodded, "Yeah, but we haven't found anything yet."

Netto shrugged, "Okay, then I'll look on the main computer."

Rockman smiled, "Need help?" he asked.

Netto nodded and sat down in front of the large computer in the center. "If the main database didn't list it then…" he paused and tapped a few buttons to bring up several windows.

"It should be a prototype," Rockman realized. "Of course. Prototypes aren't mandated to be put in the main database. Only the final product."

"What would Lividity want a prototype of?" Blues asked.

Ribbon opened her mouth then closed it and looked thoughtful. Roll looked down at her and smiled sweetly, "Do you have an idea?" she asked.

Ribbon frowned and put a finger to her lips, then she nodded. "Lividity-sama wanted to make the Net World not need the Real World. Is there some kind of program that could make one or the other obsolete?"

"No," Rockman frowned. "Sci-labs would never make something that dangerous."

"Then why bring it up?" Netto asked.

"We're looking for a prototype, Netto-kun," Rockman reminded him. "Prototypes often don't do what the final product do. Something similar to making a world obsolete would be…" his eyes widened in realization. "Netto-kun, look up he prototypes for the Dimensional Area program!"

Netto blinked and looked confused. "What?"

"Just do it," Rockman commanded.

Netto nodded and pulled up the program Rockman commanded him to. "Here," he paused and pointed to an area on the screen. "It's missing," he said slowly. "Why would Lividity…"

"Pull up the specs," Rockman said softly.

Netto looked at the basic set up of the program and his eyes slowly widened. "Oh wow," he said.

Rockman leaned over and read what Netto was looking at and merely stood there silently.

"What's wrong?" Blues asked them.

"I think we know why it was rejected as a prototype," Rockman said softly.

"Why?" Searchman asked, finally making the effort to cross the room to look at the file.

"Its effects are permanent," Netto said in an equally faint voice to Rockman's.

Lividity smiled and pulled out the program that it had stolen. "Well, well, well, that was quite easy," it said with a grin. "Too easy," it whispered while licking its lips. "I want more…"

The program shimmered and pulsated in Lividity's dark grip. It smiled and gripped the lump of data even harder while cackling softly. "Come on," it chided the program.

Finally the program dissipated and scattered over the area that Lividity was standing in and began to glow in certain areas. "Perfect," Lividity grinned as the area it was in began to absorb the data into its main structure.

Over in sci labs, a small data signal abnormality appeared on the main screen. "Netto-kun," Rockman shook his twin's shoulder and pointed at the screen. "Look."

Netto blinked and looked, "No way," he said slowly.

Roll, Blues, Ribbon and Searchman peered over the twins to look at the computer. "What is it?" Ribbon asked.

"According to the computer it's the prototype, only the data is horribly corrupted," Rockman said with a frown.

"How bad is the corruption?" Blues asked.

Netto hit a few keys on the board and glanced at the data that appeared on the screen. "Bad enough that this computer no longer recognizes it as a sci labs file," he explained slowly.

Roll winced and leaned over to press a few more keys. Another screen came up that pointed to the location of the corrupted file. "Not in the net nor the real world," she said softly when she looked at the coordinates.

Ribbon sighed heavily. "Lividity-sama acted so soon."

Rockman frowned, "We have to go before it gets any worse," he said quickly and looked up. "Is that okay?"

"What if it's a trap?" Searchman asked.

"Then we deal with it," Netto replied matter of factly and pulled out his PET. "Or at least Rockman and I do."

Rockman nodded and stood behind Netto. Ribbon cheered and linked her arms between Netto and Rockman's arms and leaned forward, making the two boys wobble a bit to support their weight plus hers. "I'm in!" she cheered.

Roll nodded, "Of course," she said while giving Rockman a shy smile.

Blues and Searchman merely nodded solemnly.

Netto nodded and walked over to the Dimensional Area control panel and looked at the button. "Well then, I guess I'll see you guys there."

They nodded and he deactivated the Dimensional Area. Rockman called out from his PET two seconds later. "Ready, Netto-kun?" he asked.

Netto took in a deep breath and picked up his back pack. "Sure," he said while walking out of the building.

"Really?" Rockman asked.

Netto smiled and clipped on his rollerblades. "Yeah, I'm ready, nii-san."

Ribbon's shrill voice came out of Netto's PET making Netto and Rockman wince simultaneously. "Yay!" she cheered. "We're all ready then!"

Netto sighed and began to skate down the empty roads towards where in the distance Lividity was sitting on a small chair and looking thoughtfully into thin air. "They're coming," it said with a grin. "Of course."

Netto skated into the perimeter of the area and looked around. "Well, here we are," he said slowly. "You guys ready?"

"Yes!" Ribbon said cheerfully.

"Go ahead, Netto-kun," Rockman told him softly.

Netto nodded and skated into the area. He could tell as soon as he set foot into the area that something wasn't right. Everything around him felt different and unnatural. It was the same feeling that dimensional areas gave him, only the feeling was increased several times over.

"Are you all right, Netto-kun?" Rockman asked.

Netto nodded, "I'm fine. We're in the area though, try and see if you can link out of the PET."

"All right," Rockman said and several moments later they all appeared around Netto in the area.

Netto waved at him cheerfully, "Hello."

"Well, looks like our hunch about this place was right," Rockman said, looking around. "There's no visible sign that this place is corrupted with data, but it is. If Lividity learns how to do this on a world wide scale, we're all in very big trouble."

Netto nodded, "No kidding," he said while looking around. "And it feels so… creepy too."

"Why?" Ribbon asked him as they walked further into the corrupted area.

Netto shrugged, "I can't really explain it. All I know it that it doesn't feel right."

Rockman nodded his agreement, "Yeah, I know what you mean."

They walked the rest of the way in silence until they came up to Lividity. Lividity smiled at them and jumped off the car it was sitting on. "Interesting, isn't it?" it asked. "How little it takes to bring down the barrier between the human and cyber worlds. Think of the possibilities," it said softly. "Creating a world just for net navis. No more dependence on humans. We'll have everything we need to survive on our own this way."

"You're wrong!" Rockman yelled. "We need humans, just like humans need us. How can you say that we can get along without the people that gave us life?"

Lividity smirked, "And those that take it away so easily?"

"So! What you're planning to do is no better!" Rockman yelled at Lividity.

Lividity smiled cruelly, "I hope so," it hissed.

Netto put a hand on Rockman's shoulder. "Don't waste your breath Rockman. It's not going to work."

"Oh?" Lividity smirked. "Says the brat who isn't even fully human?"

Netto's eyes flashed angrily as he glared at it. "Shut up!" he snapped.

"Netto-kun," Rockman said softly and shook his head. /You can't loose your cool, not here/ he told Netto softly.

Netto took in a deep breath/Right, sorry Rockman./

Rockman smiled/It's all right./

Lividity walked over to them. "Well, since words merely seem to be delaying the inevitable, let's get this battle out of the way, shall we?"

Netto pulled out his PET and everyone else got their default weapons ready. Lividity lifted up and hand and summoned a pulsating energy into it. "Come!" it yelled.

Rockman ran up to it first, downloading a sword chip Netto gave him and slashing at its hand. Lividity jumped away but Rockman turned backwards in mid air aiming for the energy that it was cradling in its left hand.

Lividity smirked and pulled its hand away and thrust out its other hand, catching Rockman in the shoulder. Rockman retaliated by thrusting the tip of his sword into Lividity's shoulder. He then pushed back and skidded a few feet away.

"Hm?" Lividity smirked while looking at its shoulder. "Clever," it hissed then lashed out with the energy ball. It flew forward and almost hit Rockman but Ribbon jumped in the way and entwined the data in her ribbons and absorbed it. "Oh child, you've finally betrayed me?"

Ribbon grinned, "I'm not a child!" she yelled and formed a sword between her hands. "Not anymore!"

Lividity blocked the first blow and turned to the right to avoid the next one. Ribbon was very quick with her blade, but each time Lividity managed to block or dodge each strike.

Blues summoned his own sword and looked at Searchman. "Do you happen to have a vaccine chip in your sniper?" he asked.

Searchman nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"When you get a clear shot, I want you to shoot Lividity with it. That might keep it from using dark energy," Blues said and jumped into the fight just before Ribbon was nearly hit by one of Lividity's attacks.

Searchman nodded and loaded his sniper. "Roll," he said.

"Yes?" the pink navi asked.

Searchman nodded at Netto who was slotting in battle chips for his navi to use at a furious rate. "Make sure he doesn't get hurt. Something tells me that Rockman is going to be the one to end this battle."

"Right," Roll said and ran over to Netto.

"Hello Netto-san," she said as she summoned a heart to her hands.

Netto glanced up at her then grinned. "Either Rockman, Searchman or Blues told you to come over here," he said while giving Rockman an area steal chip to avoid another attack.

"Searchman," Roll agreed. "Is anything changing?"

Netto shook his head, "Not yet. There's too much going on. Searchman is trying to get a clear shot right?"

Roll nodded, "Yeah."

Netto took in a deep breath, "All right then."

/Netto-kun, what are you planning/ Rockman asked as he listened in on the conversation.

/Tell Blues and Ribbon to jump out of the way when I give you the Roll Soul chip. I bet the healing technique can freeze it for a second/ Netto said.

/Right/ Rockman agreed.

"Roll?" Netto asked as he took out the chip.

"Yes, Netto-san?"

"Can you aim a cure at Lividity?" Netto asked her.

Roll blinked, "I can try, why though? Don't we want to defeat Lividity?"

"Yeah, and this is how to do it. Lividity is made of corrupt data, I'm sure about that now. It was the one who corrupted the prototype in the first place. So, healing data is what makes corrupt data revert to it's original form right?"

Roll nodded, "Yes. But is my attack enough?"

Netto smirked, "Probably not, but you and Rockman together should be more then enough. Just make sure to aim well and fire when I say so."

Roll grinned, finally catching on to his plan. "Okay," she said and transferred healing data into the heart she was holding.

/Ready/ he asked Rockman.

/Ready when you are/ Rockman replied.

Netto nodded and slotted in the chip. "Now!" he yelled.

Rockman jumped back and fired a Roll Arrow at Lividity that was full of healing data while Roll threw her heart. Blues and Ribbon jumped back as Lividity was hit with the attacks full force.

Searchman took aim and fired his own vaccine bullet into the navi and watched as it took effect. Slowly the dark purple energy around the navi died as Lividity sunk to its knees. "NO!" it yelled. "NOT YET!"

Netto gave Rockman a shield chip, just to make sure he wasn't hurt in case anything happened. Lividity yelled out in pain as its corrupted data slowly rewrote its self. "No…" it whispered.

Blues went over to the weakened navi and knocked it offline with his sword. "You are placed under arrest by the Net Saviors organization," he said coolly.

Netto used his PET to scan for the thing that was controlling all of the humans. "Netto-kun?" Rockman asked.

Netto pointed at a radio dish above them. "There!" he yelled.

Ribbon jumped up and held her sword at the ready. "May I?" she asked.

Rockman nodded and let Roll Soul fall off of him.

Ribbon jumped up gracefully and slashed at the dish where it came apart and exploded. "Yay!" she cheered.

"How do we get rid of the corrupted data in this area?" Netto asked.

"It should wear off soon," Searchman said. "Now that Lividity's corrupted data is not longer feeding it."

Netto nodded, "All right. So, things are back to normal?" he asked.

"There's really only one way to find out," Rockman said softly.

Netto nodded, "All right," he said as he put on his roller blades.

Blues picked up Lividity and nodded at them, "I shall see you soon then," he said with a curt nod and made sure that it was really unconscious before logging out. 

"Bye, Netto-san, Rockman," Roll said with a blush. She ran over to the blue navi and hugged him tightly. "I'll see you at home." She smiled, waved then logged out.

Searchman nodded, "Thank you for your help," he said. "Netto-san, Rockman, your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks," they said gratefully.

Ribbon looked up at them. "Well?" she asked.

Rockman grabbed her hand, "You're coming with us until we know what to do with you," he told her and logged into his PET.

Ribbon giggled, "I don't mind. It seems like it would be an adventure and a half just to be with you two anyways."

"Ha ha," Netto said dryly as he skated home.

Netto saw people coming out of their houses looking confused and upset but no one was hurt or in danger and that's all that mattered at the moment. He quickly skated up his driveway and into his house where he hastily kicked off his shoes and ran into the kitchen. "Mama?" he called.

His mother came in behind him, "There you are," she breathed. "I was worried about you when I couldn't find you. What's going on?"

Netto grinned and hugged his mother tightly. Haruka looked surprised but hugged him back nonetheless. "What on earth happened?" she asked him softly.

Netto sighed, "It's a long story."

Haruka stroked his hair softly, "Well, I apparently made hot chocolate and we have time," she said softly.

Netto nodded and followed her into the kitchen where he and Rockman began to tell of their adventures over the past few days. 


End file.
